Sweet Caroline
by Arones
Summary: No 1 in the "Accidents of the Heart" Series:  Helen encounters a strange and interesting woman: but who is she and why is she at the Sanctuary?
1. The Tree

It was a beautiful spring day and Magnus was reveling in its warm glow. The sun was high and the breeze was gentle, there were no clouds that looked dangerous, only white puffy ones that flew high above the green earth below. It was a slow day, which was odd. Usually this time of year there was always someone giving birth or some kind of emergency, but not this day, and Magnus wasn't one to not take advantage of the pace. Sure she could have found something to do, there was always something to do, but the niggling feeling in her gut had told her to wander outside for a stroll in the gardens and she was loath to deny it.

She was bending over checking on the knock-out rose bushes that her old friend had planted earlier in the season to see how they were coming along. There were a few weeds under the stems, but the plant itself looked good and healthy. It wasn't like she had a green thumb or anything, but it had seemed important to her old friend to plant them here, and to plant them in an obscene quantity. She would have to ask him why some day.

She was kneeling, her nose pressed into one of the blooming flowers that was just starting to open when she thought she heard a soft mewling noise behind her. Turning on her heel, but still bent low to the ground she looked around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary so she went back to the soft petals. Pushing off her knees she stood and moved to another part of the garden, one that was not recently taken care of. She would also have to either speak with her old friend about this, or just hire a gardener to come out every week or so.

She stood in front of some tulips that had just budded and were standing tall in stark contrast to the white fence that was behind them. It was a glorious contrast; her friend had done well in his choices there. This was something he loved, but rarely had time for. She would have to try and remedy that, maybe he could have a bit of a vegetable garden this summer if she planned right. With everyone around the Sanctuary she was sure that it would be feasible. She lost herself in making arrangements and reorganizing the schedule so her friend could have some time to work on the project if he so desired, which she was sure he would. She was pulled from her thoughts suddenly when she heard coughing coming from over her left shoulder.

Magnus walked slowly toward the sound; she was sure that one of her patients was trying to play a trick on her. They did that on and off and it was nearing April, perhaps they were just out practicing on an _unsuspecting_ stranger. She glided toward the large maple tree that stood proud with white washed benches lounging underneath. She and Ashley had spent many a day on those benches.

Magnus heard the deep coughing again and she knew she was on the right track to where the person was. It sounded as if something was amiss with a lung based on the cough: deep inhalations with a great wheezing, definitely some sort of injury. She would have to reprimand them after making sure whoever it was healed correctly and in a timely manner. She stopped under the long branches of the tree, listening intently this time, when she heard the soft moan. It was coming from above her.

Straining her neck, Magnus looked into the branches that weaved out from the round and plump trunk. About twenty feet up she saw a large bright red mass of a person awkwardly positioned in between limbs. One leg rested over one limb while the other was twisted at an unnatural angle; that leg was definitely broken. The torso of said person was resting bent doubled over one of the thicker branches, thank goodness or otherwise the fall to the ground might have been fatal or at least much more damaging. The arms were motionless, loose, and flailing every time a cough wracked the body.

"Are you alright?" Magnus called up to the body. The face was covered with long blonde locks that swished back and forth with every breath. At least there was regular breathing; she noted this in the back of her mind. There was no answer and Magnus was becoming concerned. She called out one last time, "Are you alright?" Her voice rang through the silence, but she heard a mumbling above her, which was a good sign.

Magnus believed the word spoken, or at least the only one she could make out, was "Fine." She laughed to herself at the stubbornness of the individual, whoever it was. Pulling her ever present radio out, she spoke into it. "Will, would you kindly bring me a ladder. I'm out in the gardens. The 30 foot one, please."

"Alright?" There was definite questioning in his voice but she wasn't about to explain.

"Also, get my dear friend and have him bring a gurney. I believe I will need his help."

That certainly got Will's attention. He was up and out of his chair the instant she said gurney. He pressed the intercom button and called out Biggie's name. The Sasquatch was holed up in the infirmary already dealing with an injury and replied he wouldn't be able to assist. Will retrieved the gurney first, checking in with the Big Guy and the patient who had fallen and sliced a decent sized gash into the scaly palm. Next he made his way to the garage and grabbed the 30 foot ladder and placed it on top of the gurney so he wouldn't have to make two trips, an awkward but ingenious move on his part.

He struggled to push the wheels over the cobblestone walkway that offered a rather indirect and winding path through the gardens, but he pushed on. He saw Magnus standing looking straight up at _something_. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she was leaning precariously on one heel that was two inches deep in the wet soil of the ground. He moved the last of the distance without the infirmary bed and was standing just next to her when she turned to look at him. She smiled slightly to him before her gaze moved back to where it had been and his followed. That was when he saw the red mass of fabric lying awkwardly in the tree. He was proud of himself: he didn't gasp, he didn't swear and he didn't even comment, all he said was, "Big Guy's already dealing with a patient. Steve cut his hand and it needed stitches."

"Well I guess it's you and me then. You're going to have to go up and get her."

"Her?"

"Yeah, at least as much as I can make out, she hasn't spoken really. Non-coherent phrases are all." She looked at his jury rigged cart and suppressed a chuckle. "Better get started; she's been up there quite some time I'm afraid."

Will heaved the ladder and then pushed the rungs up so it landed just below the woman. "And how am I supposed to get her down?"

Magnus bit her lip, but couldn't resist, "Fireman style."

Will gave her an incredulous look, "You do remember that I don't like heights right?"

"Of course, however I am in no condition to be climbing up the tree. I'm right here if you fall, and the gurney is already in place. Don't worry, you'll do fine."

He glared at her in response before drawing in a deep breath of air and lifting his foot up onto the first rung. He very slowly made his way up to the woman.

Magnus pressed her weight to the bottom of the ladder, giving Will more stability as he began to pull the weak and fragile frame from the limbs. "Watch her ribs please; I'm fairly sure something is broken. Oh! And her leg, please."

"Yes, Magnus." He growled out before completely pulling the woman into his arms. He flung her over his shoulder, her face hitting his lower back and her badly broken leg resting next to his face. Taking both of his hands and wrapping the fingers tightly around the metal he began to move down. This was his least favorite part about ladders. The up was fine; it was the down that scared him into oblivion. He was breathing out his favorite exercise when his feet finally planted firmly on the ground. Magnus already had her hands on the woman and was dragging them both to the gurney he had left a few feet away.

"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" She chided to him while she ran hands over the broken form that now rested on the white sheets. Without waiting for an answer Magnus continued in her assessment. A woman definitely, her face was rounded and healthy, though a tint of red was covering it, probably from hanging for so long. "We'll have to get this off her, whatever this is." Magnus commented about the red suit the woman was wearing.

"It's for extreme base jumping." Magnus looked at Will as if he had said something completely ridiculous. He raised his hands in defense, "It's not like I've done it! I've just known people who have. Kate's done it a time or two." He mumbled the last part to himself.

When they reached the Sanctuary doors and were lifting the gurney over the doorjamb the woman woke roughly crying out at the pain the jostling caused her. "It's alright; I'll give you something to help that in a minute." Magnus laid a soft hand on the woman's shoulder.

She just shook her head with her eyes shut tight ignoring the pain as much as humanly possible. "It's not that bad."

Magnus looked at the woman's face in time to see a tear streak down her cheek from the corner of her tightly shut lid. "What's your name?"

She grunted softly before shaking her head sharply to the side.

"Ok, ok, you can tell me later, just calm down; I'll give you something soon." The trio managed to make it to the elevator and had been waiting to reach the correct level. The woman was now fully awake, though trying her hardest to not to vomit or pass out from the amount of pain coursing through every nerve she had. Magnus quickly depressed a needle of morphine into the young woman's vein as soon as they entered the room. "Just breathe deeply now; you should be feeling better any second."

Her head nodded slowly and the muscles in her face loosened when the pain began to recede into drugged oblivion. Magnus tapped the woman's cheek lightly until her head turned and she voiced a protest. "Don't go to sleep on me yet, what's your name?"

Again the woman moaned without voicing a name before falling deeply into sleep. Magnus started an IV quickly and then began to cut off the tight fitting cloth. Will stood close by assisting in anyway Magnus asked.

"Extreme base jumping?" She asked more to herself than to him, but still expecting an answer.

"Yeah, you jump off a cliff and basically fly and glide down to the bottom."

"Ah," she had, of course, heard of just a thing before, but felt the need to include him in the goings on. "There are no cliffs here."

"Um, yeah, I suppose it can also be done off tall buildings." Will held the woman in a sitting position while Magnus tied the hospital gown behind her back. Little bruising there, she noted. Listening to her chest she could hear the wheezing, but it didn't seem as though a rib was broken or a lung puncture. This was more often associated with pneumonia. It was interesting that she would be jumping off high buildings with pneumonia: interesting yet very reckless.

Magnus skillfully set her leg and placed an air cast over the injury to keep everything in place, not wanting the woman to break the bones again. "I want to take some x-rays of her chest and a head ct. I'm not sure how far she fell, but there's always the change for head trauma and it can't hurt." Will nodded and went to set up the machines and the room while Magnus double checked the woman's vitals.

It was a few hours later and Magnus had determined that there was no head injury but that she did indeed have pneumonia. Will started the new intake file and she was just entering in the medical data that she could formulate without the woman's help. She heard the soft moaning from behind her and when she turned, the young woman was definitely beginning to wake. Her heels clicked three or four times as she walked over to the bed and gently pressed her hand against the woman's arm. "How are you feeling?"

She swallowed hard to formulate an answer, "A bit better."

"Want some water?"

"Please." Magnus held a cup with a straw to the young woman's lips. She quickly drank the small amount of water Magnus had put in the cup knowing better than to have filled in the entire way.

"Think you can tell me your name now?"

The woman nodded, "Kelly. Ryan Kelly."

"Well, Ryan, welcome to the Sanctuary."

"Thank you, but what is the Sanctuary?"

Magnus grinned, "We're a private research facility, but we can get into that later. Now, about your status: you are fine, fracture in both your tibia and fibula but it's been set. You'll have to wear the cast for at least four weeks and try and keep off it for a few days. If it starts to swell you need stay off it. Your CT came back normal, which is good, but your chest x-rays have me a bit concerned."

"Oh?"

"You've got pneumonia. Did you know that?"

Ryan shrugged. "I thought it was just a bad cough."

"Well, it's more than that." Magnus pulled the IV out of Ryan's arm and pressed a band aid over her skin. "Here," leaning over, Magnus grabbed two bottles of medicines off the tray. "These are antibiotics for your pneumonia, twice a day, don't forget. These," she shook the second bottle lightly, "are for the pain you will undoubtedly be feeling from your leg and your fall."

"It wasn't a fall." The woman mumbled under her breath.

"Sorry?"

"Thank you, Doctor?"

"Ah. My apologies: I'm Doctor Helen Magnus. This is my home."

Ryan nodded in acknowledgment, "So when can I get out of here Doc? I'm not one for being cooped up."

"Obviously, I'd like to keep you here overnight, just to make sure there are no lingering effects of the fall, but you'll be free to leave in the morning."

"Mind if I take off now? I've got responsibilities back home."

"If necessary, you may, but at least let one of my people take you home." Magnus handed Ryan some scrubs, "Thought you might like something else to wear."

"Most definitely." Ryan swung her legs over the edge of the bed letting them hang. She reached behind her and quickly untied the gown and pulled her down her front exposing herself. Bunching the green material of the scrubs up she pulled it over her head before bending low to push her leg through the hole. She got it caught on the hem, but Magnus saw it and flipped the material up before Ryan could even ask for help.

Magnus handed the woman two crutches that had already been set for her height. "Just until you can start walking on it again and please be careful in how much weight you put on it." Ryan took the metal crutches hesitating slightly. "I'll call Will down, he can drive you home."

"You're not going to drive me?"

Magnus smiled, "I have a meeting in ten minutes. I'm afraid I don't have the time, but I trust Will with my life," her eyes crinkled in the corners at that, "I'm sure he'll take good care of you."

Will insisted that she sit in the wheelchair and that he wheel her from the infirmary to the van. He had a pickup at the docks that he would complete after dropping her off; otherwise he would have insisted on a car. Ryan struggled only a small amount getting into the van, but she insisted she could do it herself without his help. Will had only held his hands up in mock surrender, shutting the door behind her and moving around to the driver's seat.

The drive went in silence. Will had little to say and Ryan was falling in and out of sleep, though she was directing him to her little apartment. At least he hoped she was. They had gone into New City and she woke suddenly when he had to slam on the brakes to avoid a collision. She looked around, finding her bearings before commenting, "I'm just two blocks up." When he pulled over on the curb, she was already out the van door and halfway to the building door before he could get run around the vehicle to assist.

"Ryan!" She stopped finally and turned toward him, "Magnus said that if you had any problems you should call." He handed her Magnus' card. "Want help up?"

"I'm fine." She stuffed the card in her pocket and moved into the doorway. Will shrugged and went back to the van, starting the ignition to head to his pickup.


	2. The Warehouse

Ryan walked into the doors of the complex Will had dropped her off at. Looking around she took in the yellowish hues the nice looking wood desk and ever present staff who watched her carefully. She sighed, waited a few more seconds all the while still looking around and taking everything in before she turned around and left the complex, hobbling with her crutches.

She caught sight of the back of the van as it turned the corner two blocks up. Will was driving to the docks to do a pickup of an abnormal that Magnus had gotten somewhere. He didn't mind, really, just so long as it went smoothly and no crises happened. Unfortunately that was not the case tonight. The abnormal he was picking up was another Mollux that was supposed to be kept with the one they already had. The crate, when loaded into the back of the van, snapped in all the right places allowing the Mollux to run loose.

Granted it wasn't the most dangerous abnormal to end up on the loose in Old City, but it certainly was not going to please Magnus. And he had already somewhat angered her by requesting a short amount of time off for a conference that she was stringently opposed to. Thoroughly angry and frustrated with the stupidity of this dock worker, Will grunted harshly as he grabbed a stunner from the back of the van and set off after his quarry.

He chased the damn thing for thirty minutes straight but he just couldn't keep up. He really needed to go to the gym more often; maybe he would ask Biggie for some tips. His cell rang and he knew the ringtone in a second. "The way you shake it, I can't believe it, I ain't never seen an ass like that…" rang through the dark alley. Grabbing for the phone immediately, it was damn good thing she never called him and heard the ringtone. Magnus would probably string him up in the catacombs for a week if she knew. "Hey." He answered only somewhat out of breath which made him proud.

"How's it going? You're rather late for dinner, everything turn out fine?"

"No, the dockworker you hired is a complete idiot. He dropped the box in the back of the van and the wood split so the Mollux escaped. I've been chasing it for the last twenty minutes all over the city. I'm about ready to give up, Magnus. I'm not going to find this thing tonight."

"I'll come help you, the guys are already set up for dinner and I've got some free time."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah, positive, and I can have a talk with Ernie while I'm there. Would you come get me? I'll grab new containment on my way out."

"Yeah, be there in…" he glanced down at his watch, "fifteen."

"Alright, see you then." Magnus hung up the phone and plotted her course down to the research lab where she knew Henry kept his tracking devices. She stopped by the dining room telling all present she wouldn't be joining them and neither would Will, of course they offered their assistance, but she just waved them off. She entered the garage just as Will was pulling up to the entrance. Will drove quickly wanting this night to end: him and Magnus out alone usually meant a good deal of bickering and, unfortunately, him getting hurt in some capacity.

Magnus was guiding his direction based on the tracker she held in her hand. Apparently, the Mollux had been part of the Beijing Sanctuary at one point and they had put a tracker under his skin because he had the nasty habit of getting out: which explained a lot about why Magnus wasn't steaming mad at him. She led him to a warehouse a few blocks over from where he had been with Ernie.

He followed her up a rickety flight of stairs; his stunner drawn and his eyes focused on anything opposite of where she was looking. A method that had taken him a few years to perfect with her, since she always seemed to be looking everywhere at one time. They kept going up; how she knew that the Mollux was up instead of on whatever level they were at was a mystery to him that he would need to figure out someday, but not today. Today he just wanted to find the bloody thing and go home for a long soothing shower.

He groaned; his leg muscles were starting to hurt. Yeah, he definitely needed to get to the gym more. "Magnus, how much further?" He was whining and he knew it, but at the moment he could care less.

"Not much," when she turned to look at him, there was a bright twinkle to her eyes. She was thoroughly enjoying this. "And really, Will, the Mollux is docile, no need for the stunner."

"It's so it doesn't run again." He responded defending himself.

A smile graced her lips as she stepped onto the last parapet and turned a corner. The floor was rotted through and rickety, but it didn't seem to bother her in the least. She poked her head around another corner and saw a cardboard box that was set deep under a collapsing table. Taking ginger steps, Magnus moved to get a better look. Inside it she found the Mollux, along with its apparent mate and three baby Mollux that were sleeping soundly against their mother's protruding abdomen. "We're going to need a larger container if they put up a fight, but I don't think they will." She kneeled down close in front of them. Holding out her hand, the daddy Mollux sniffed at her, and apparently decided she was okay. "Hey there," she pet its head and then the mother's. She was making fast friends.

Will took a step forward then and the daddy Mollux hissed and growled deep in the back of its throat, much like a cat only deeper and scarier. Instantaneously he stopped. Magnus only leaned down closer, cooing lightly telling the creature that Will was okay as well. Eventually she lifted one of the tiny babies out of the box and held it close to her chest. "He's only a few hours old," the smile on her face lit up the dark warehouse and Will couldn't help himself when he issued one back.

"But how—"

"Ernie, would be my guess. Here." She handed him the baby and reached in for the other two. It was about the size of tiny foam football that Biggie liked to toss every once in a while during a meeting. Will cradled the thing into his side, nervous that he might drop it and that the woman kneeling in front of him would then lose all amount of respect for his abilities. "The parents should follow us without running away, but just to be sure to keep your eye on them."

"Right," Will turned and took a step back towards the stairs but his foot punched through the floor. He grunted and went down, only one of his legs piercing through floor while is other bunched up next to him. He sunk to his hip, dropping the stunner and grabbing on to the baby Mollux with both hands and covering it with as much of his body as possible to protect it from any damage. When he finally stopped moving he took a deep breath. Mommy Mollux came rushing over and ripped the baby out of his hands. Magnus set the two babies she held back into the cardboard box and rushed to check on the one he had been carrying. Deciding quickly there was little to no damage she made to Will, carefully aware of where she stepped.

"How are you doing?"

"Fantastic, the splinters are great props for holding up my falling body."

She was on her knees and by his back, which proved to be the sturdiest part of the flooring, if sturdy was even a word in the rotted wood's vocabulary. "Is it just your leg that hurts?"

"With one leg down a hole and the other scrunched up under my body I'd say that they both hurt."

"Alright," she checked the surrounding floorboards quickly before wrapping her arms around his chest, "I'm going to pull you back towards me, think you can help a bit."

"Yeah," he grunted when she squeezed tight and began to move him. It took a few interesting maneuvers, but Will was finally free of the now gaping hole and sitting with his back against Magnus' side as they both breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "Thanks, again."

"Always, Will, you know that." She patted his shoulder before moving around his front to check over his injuries. She couldn't see much, except blood and tears in his jeans. The wounds seamed rather superficial, but she couldn't imagine them to be comfortable. "There's some ibuprofen in the van I want you to take before we get back to the Sanctuary. You're going to be bruised for a while; I'll take a closer look at it when we return."

"I'm thrilled." Magnus stood and helped him to his feet, and let him test out the weight on his foot before releasing her hold on his waist. He grimaced and knew she missed it since she was once again looking at the now wary Mollux, his ankle was definitely sprained. He'd tell her that later. Neither the Mollux nor Magnus trusted him with an infant again, instead he was charged with walking down the stairs first while Magnus carried one baby and each Mollux another. She was sure that so long as she kept one infant with her the parents would come willingly.

And she was right. They made it back to the Sanctuary without any further hitches. They were waiting for a walker to pass by the gates in the street before Magnus was able to punch in her code to get onto the property. As soon as she parked, Will slowly made his way down to the infirmary to wait her out while she went and put the Mollux family in their new habitat and called Henry to do the intake.

It was thirty minutes before Magnus made her way into the infirmary to take care of her newest patient. Will had already stripped his pants, knowing she would make him do it anyway, along with his shirt and was sitting there staring at the scratches and newly forming bruises deciding which ones she might want to stitch up and if there was any way he could get out of it.

Magnus set up her tray to work on him as she idly talked about their new intakes and how she really was going to talk to Ernie about his abuse of her trust and his misuse of the abnormals he shipped for them. This was not the first time he had messed something up and she was becoming fed up with his actions, she was not as patient as Ashley had been with the man. She pressed a piece of gauze to a particularly deep cut and began to wash it clean. Will was grimacing and wincing and was so lost in ignoring the pain she was causing that he lost track of the conversation. So when she looked at him expecting an answer to a question he was at a complete loss, "Huh?"

"I asked how you keep getting yourself into these situations."

"Oh," he planted a hand on his thigh and pushed down as she went after another cut, "just luck I guess." His voice was strained and she must have caught it because she didn't ask him anymore questions, just worked in silence. She check his ribs to make sure he hand broken anything and once she was satisfied, had stitched three cuts, cleaned the rest and wrapped his entire calf and half his thigh in a clean cover she helped him into scrubs and let him take his leave.

She pulled the gloves from her hands with a snap and threw them into the biohazard container along with the majority of the stuff on the tray table. She moved the tools to be cleaned and autoclaved and wiped down the counters with a good coat of alcohol. Finishing, she glanced at the ever present silver watch on her wrist. Nine o'clock. Her stomach rumbled to remind her that she hadn't actually eaten anything. Sighing she made her way to the kitchen to find some leftovers from dinner. After heating the food, she made her way to her office to do some more work.

Magnus had been cooped up in the large for hours on end, but glancing at the time she figured there would be no point in her sleeping, she'd only have to wake in an hour or so anyway. Standing and stretching she looked out the window of her office to the river that separated New City from Old City. It was so beautiful this time of night. Deciding she wanted a better view, she made her way to the North Tower.

Standing on the parapet overlooking Old City she wrapped her arms tightly around herself and she leaned against the stone. She sighed to no one, thinking that she would probably have to teach Will some defensive tactics so he wouldn't hurt himself so much on missions, though the man did just seem to be clumsy half the time. There were only one or two people walking below and she could barely make out their forms in the dark sky. A woman, her hair billowing in the breeze hunched over, but with her head up and looking around passed by the gate and a man, on the other side of the corner, homeless and pushing a cart filled to the brim with objects Magnus couldn't discern.

Eventually she turned around and watched the sun rise over the river, the hues dancing off the waves and the boats that pushed into the harbor during the wee morning hours. She would have to go in soon. It would be time for the early morning feedings, of which she was responsible for. She also had to prepare for the briefing they were having. It was their weekly long one; she wasn't just going to dole out responsibilities for the day she had to go over all missions and cases for the past week and the future week. The meeting was bound to last for a few hours at least.

She was just sitting down, brushing her hands over her bottom so her skirt wouldn't bunch or wrinkle for the few hours she knew she would be there for. She was showered and changed and, as always, waiting on everyone else to arrive. Kate was first, very much always on time if not early and never wanting to end up on the bad side of Magnus. She plopped down heavily onto the couch and started asking about new requisitions she wanted for the armory. She had filled Ashley's role of the weapons guru nicely and without complications as it wasn't expected of her.

"I'll think about it, I really need Henry to work on some new stunners rather than weapons that fire bullets." She smoothed out the already perfect yellow notebook paper on her lap and made a note on it with her ball point pen. Once everyone had arrived, Magnus began the meeting. She started with the most recent event and intake last night.

They had only been sitting for about twenty minutes when Will's phone buzzed in his pocket. Magnus was opposed to having cell phones in staff meetings, but recently her staff had changed her mind. Emergencies always came up at any minute and cells were more popular and easier to contact others overseas and if anyone had to leave it wasn't like staff meetings couldn't be filled in later in the day. Will flipped his phone out of his pocket and glanced at the caller id. It was Joe Cavanaugh. It had been years since he had heard from the man, but something made him think he should take the call. Looking up at Magnus he nodded toward the door and made to leave.

"Zimmerman."

"Hey Will, it's Joe."

"How's it going?"

"Interestingly, I caught this case. Thought you might be interested."

"Yeah?"

"There's a girl, she's a lone survivor of a house fire."

"Ok, not odd, but ok."

"The odd thing is that this kid has been the lone survivor in six house fires. In each fire there was no accelerant, nothing to indicate what started it. Two of the fires were even in rubber padded rooms at the local hospital."

"Huh." Will rubbed the back of his head as he wandered down the hallway to his office.

"Yeah, thing is, the girl doesn't talk much and she ain't talkin' now. At all. Wanna looksee?"

"Sure. When?"

"Twenty, meet me at the station and hurry your ass. The social worker's gonna be here in an hour."

"Sure, see you soon."


	3. The Precinct

Will pushed open the door to the station house; the memories, smells, and hustle flooded into his senses and was almost overwhelming. It smelled of stale coffee and sweat. He looked to the front desk that was placed center of the wide room. Walking forward he realized it was the same old crotchety woman that had given him such a hard time his first few weeks working there. Yet, he had still been able to make quite an impression on her with his expansive knowledge of history. She was one that apparently quite enjoyed American history being raised in the south, her interests particularly focused on the Civil War. He had impressed her, being a Yankee yet knowing the _correct_ history behind the entire conflict.

"Hold your horses, I'll be there in a minute," her voice was filled with gravel and slurs, as if she had just smoked an entire carton of cigarettes in two great huffs. Her back was turned away and her face buried in a filing cabinet.

"You really should be more careful, Myrna, I could be a robber or a drugged out convict after all your money."

She turned around slowly at his tone, her face expressionless until she saw the giant smile gracing his lips, "William, trying to scare an old woman to death? And with all of these fine, fine officers around? I wouldn't think you would dare try such a thing."

The woman also had an unhealthy obsession with frogs and he was starkly reminded of this by her cartoon frog patterned shirt, a frog head broach pinned by her collar bone with brightly lit eyes, and her glasses which had frogs jumping along the sides. "Myrna, would I do such a thing?" He feigned innocence.

"Yes, now get over here and properly greet me." She lifted the lock on the half door and permitted him entrance behind the desk. She grabbed him firmly around the waist because her head only came up to just below his chest. He leaned down to embrace the woman and her brightly dyed red hair tickled his nose. She squeezed impossibly tighter before releasing him. "Where you been, William? I haven't heard from you in ages." She and Magnus were the only two people he ever allowed to call him William—and Tesla because he was a bit afraid of the repercussions of saying "no" to a vampire.

"Here and there, my new boss keeps me very busy and there's a lot of traveling. I've been to places with her you could never imagine.

"I'm not sure I like this boss-lady if she keeps you from calling an old gal like me."

"I know and I'm sorry. I'll call more often." He squeezed her into his side and dropped a chaste kiss on her fluffy hair.

"You're here for Joe, I bet," she turned away from him trying not to get overly emotional. "Boy's been a menace about this case."

"Oh?"

"Yeah—flitting here and there. He doesn't know how he landed it but doesn't want to mess it all up either."

"Well, I better go find him."

"He's in interrogation 11, with the kid."

"Thanks," he left the enclosure of the desk and started to walk away before he stopped abruptly. "Oh, Myrna, I'll try for Easter this year."

Her heat melted, "Not necessary, William, just pick up the phone every now and then will ya? I get bored with the old goat's grumbling." He smiled to himself and nodded at her before he pushed open the door she had buzzed him into.

Magnus was just finishing the meeting when she glanced at her cell noting Will's prolonged absence; she had deduced he had been called somewhere. Certainly he had, the station house, it had been years since he had been down there. She was placing her notepad on her desk and walked to the window rubbing her arms softly. She had a sudden chill that ran down her spine and she couldn't quite shake the odd feeling it caused. Something was not right.

She picked up her phone that she had left on the desk and moved back to the window, scrolling through to find Will's name, she pressed the call icon and held the device to her ear. Never in her early years had she ever contemplated a device so small that could reach such distances. Even though she had fully embraced the technological revolution, often times she still found herself in awe of what humans were capable of, and even more so since seeing Praxis.

He didn't answer her call and it went to voicemail, rather than leaving a message she hung up, knowing he would call her back as soon as he could. She had no information for him; rather she was trying to get information. She didn't even have time to return her cell to its proper place before it was ringing again; glancing down at the screen, she saw that it was him. Pulling it up to her ear, she spoke, "Hello Will."

"Magnus, sorry to run off like that." He was standing by the soda pop machine that was pressed tightly into the small break room. "Joe Cavanaugh called me up, said he had a case he wanted me to look at."

"Something interesting then?" She was looking out the window when she saw a woman pause in front of the gates.

"Yeah, pyrokinetic I think, young girl only six and is in foster care. She's burned down something like five houses, can't control the power at all and has no one to train her to do so."

"Well I can call the school, and see if they can make an opening, but we'd have to get custody since she's already in the system." The woman was looking from side to side, her eyes fixated on every point of the building. Magnus could only see her long hair billowing out in front of her from the breeze. It wasn't odd to see someone peering in at her facility, but something struck her about this woman. "Can you sit with her to determine if she really is a pyrokinetic?"

"Yeah I was just about to do that."

The woman's eyes looked up, Magnus could tell because her entire face leaned upwards. In that instant, Magnus knew the woman had seen her. Interesting, a brave soul at that, yet something was still bothering her. "Good, need any help getting around the system? I've got something for Henry to look into but I can come by if you need me." Just then, the woman's own cell rang and she picked it up pressing it to her ear and moved along her way. Magnus turned from her gaze and trailed back to her desk, picking up the yellow notepad again.

"Yeah, might be helpful, the social worker just got called in and should be here in about twenty minutes or so. I got caught up talking to Joe and haven't seen the girl yet." He moved away from the machine he'd been leaning on and stalked around the table to straddle one of the chairs he flipped around. He looked over the contents of the table, candy and donuts mostly, deciding a bagel sounded nice he picked up a stale one and took a quick bite before grimacing. It was old, very old.

Magnus glanced at her watch quickly, determining how long it would take her to get down there, "I'll be there in little over thirty minutes; I'm afraid I need to speak with Henry before I can leave."

"Alright, I'll see you then." Will closed his phone, glanced at the blueberry bagel in his hand before tossing it into the trash with a clunk. He walked out into the hallway determined to actually meet and see the girl this time. He knocked on the door softly before he entered and sat across from her at the tiny, tiny table with all sorts of coloring equipment that they left there for children who came into the precinct. "Hi," he said, only a little hesitantly, "I'm Will."

The girl only looked up at him and stared, her eyes cold and a bright hazel color that seemed to be looking straight into him.

"Mind if I color with you a bit?"

She handed him a crayon, a green crayon. She kept the red and orange ones to herself. She continued to draw and paint her picture on the white paper, but she was constantly glancing up at him, her eyes flicking up and down from his face to her paper. "Do you like drawing?"

She nodded yes and when she looked at him this time, her eyes did not leave his face. Will, feeling he should hold the eye contact, stared right back at her. "You're different from the others." Her voice was high pitched, but gravelly. Probably from not speaking and from smoke inhalation from the fires she was inadvertently setting.

"Yes, yes I am." He answered back. "Would you like to tell me your name?"

"Lily." She finished her drawing and handed it to him. It was an imperfect rendition of the fire elemental that Magnus kept in the lab: interesting. "You know what I can do."

It was a statement, but he felt he should answer anyway, "Yes, there are others like you."

"Really? Take me to see them." She was standing at this point and gripping his arm. "I want to see them."

"I'll try, but I have to work some things out first." Will brushed a hand over her hair, "Will you be okay in here, so I can go talk to Detective Cavanaugh and work some of this out?"

Lily shook her head fiercely and gripped his arm further, "Don't leave me. It's scary here."

"Alright, come along then." He grabbed her hand tightly and squeezed once for good measure and led her out of the room. He found Joe first and started talking to him. It wasn't long before the social worker showed up and pulled the girl violently from his side. Will hadn't even noticed her come up behind him until Lily cried out and struggled to get purchase on his arm again. When Will turned he was stunned to see Ryan standing in front of him, the girl firmly in her arms.

"Dr. Zimmerman."

"You're the social worker?"

"You two know each other?" Cavanaugh asked from behind Will.

"Yeah, briefly," Will answered.

"She's all yours, again." Joe sighed and nodded leaving Will to his own devices.

Will was glaring at her and reached for Lily who gladly went into his arms, and he was impressed that Ryan let her. He held the child to his side, "I have a place for her to live, where she can be well taken care of."

"That's not necessary I've already secured her a new home."

"If you put her with those people, any ordinary people," he amended quickly, "the same thing is going to happen again and we'll only end up back here. Honestly, I have a special school that was made for children like her."

"I appreciate your concern Dr. Zimmerman, but it is unnecessary. As I have said, I have secured a new home for her with loving foster parents who are completely aware of the situation."

"Somehow I have my doubts about that." He mumbled half to himself and half to her. "Has she even ever spoken to you? Do you know what she wants? Have you asked her?"

"She's six! She doesn't know what she wants."

"So no then. She hasn't talked to you."

Ryan gave him an incredulous look and pried the girl from his arms again. Lily was screaming incoherently as the woman readjusted the strap of her purse and made her way for the doors, signing a form as she left. Damn it, Will thought to himself, now what? He waited around for Magnus knowing she was already on her way and since she was coming in would most likely want to speak with the Police Chief himself. She might get somewhere, but he doubted anywhere fast or where she wanted to be.

Will walked out the front doors to wait for the black sedan to pull up; the one he knew held his boss. She wasn't going to be thrilled that he had lost the girl, but he had had little choice in the matter. She bristled out of the driver's seat and up to him, "Sorry I'm late, Will, something came up."

"Doesn't matter, I lost the kid. Social worker took her. Oh by the way," his voice had a snarky edge to it, "The social worker, is Ryan Kelly."

"Interesting, we have much to discuss then when we get back to the Sanctuary. I'll speak with the chief and see if there is anything we can do to expedite my custody request. Turns out Lily and I have a common cousin and I'm requesting full custody."

"Really?"

The look she gave him made him shut his mouth, "No, Will. But now we do."

His lips formed a perfect O before he followed her back inside. The Police Chief refused to see Magnus and she was not happy about it. She left with a huff of breath and Will shrugged to Myrna who was watching from the background. "Magnus, wait up!"

"What is it, William?"

"We're on the outs; did you honestly think he'd see you?" Magnus didn't even give him a look before stepping into her car and driving away, rather angrily and rather crazily if Will thought so himself.

He strode into Magnus' office after being called in and returning sometime after she did. Luckily, she had calmed a bit and he wasn't about to feel her wrath for making such an unnecessary and rather petty comment before. She was leaning over her desk, her bum out of her seat and her eyes focused on the screen in front of her as she intensely typed away. "You had something to show me?"

She glanced up, "Just a second, Will, I must finish this email before I forget what I was going to say."

He snorted, "You forget something? That's hard to believe." But he stood behind his favorite chair anyway and waited patiently. She quickly hit the send button and moved over to her desk of monitors.

"Yes, I noticed something earlier today, after you had left. I had Henry look into it and what he found is a little disturbing." She pulled up a video feed, input a password and let it play for him. Will saw Ryan walking by the gates, not once, not twice but a total of seven or eight times, he had started to lose count.

"What the hell? How long has this been going on?"

"Little over a month, I'm afraid."

"Anything beyond looking around the property?"

"Not that Henry has found so far, just general online searches that he's noticed. I don't think it's too much to be worried about, she seems rather curious is all."

"Magnus, she landed, somehow, in a tree outside and entered our property without setting of any alarm system."

"Yeah, Henry looked into that. Seems we had a power surge earlier in the day that knocked out some of the systems. Apparently he had been working on repairing them at the time she entered our perimeter."

"And that doesn't seem like more than a coincidence to you? Not only that, but the fact that she was at the station and took the child we were trying to get custody over?"

"Honestly, Will, I don't think this is any more than a few coincidences and the human tendency for curiosity. However, if it will make you feel better, I will keep an eye out and issue out an email informing the residents to look out for her. Perhaps, as well, I will schedule a visit to check up on my _patient _to check on her well-being. Maybe you would like to accompany me, check on her mental status at that time as well. I don't think she is mentally disturbed."

"That sounds better and much more like you. Thank you." He left before they were able to finalize everything, noting he had to get on his feedings for the day as it was his turn.

The next week and a half kept them and the network, for that matter, so busy that he didn't see Magnus for three days straight. Kate had come home with a broken finger, but had been patched up quickly enough and Henry had rapidly devised a new stunner that could take down a whale of massive size in one shot. The abnormal they had been after on that particular mission to the Everglades had only been about the size of a small hamster, but needed a large amount of electricity to render it inert.

Magnus was just settling into her study after returning from Budapest where she had spent the last two days in negotiations when her phone rang into the still air. "Helen Magnus." She pressed the headpiece to her ear and her shoulder while she grabbed for a file to begin reading and catching up on Sanctuary business she had missed.

"Dr. Magnus, it's Lucille."

"Lucille, how is everything going at the school? I was just going through the budget and should be able to increase yours by a few thousand dollars."

"Thank you, that would be much appreciated, but that's not why I called."

"Oh?"

"Yes, I was calling to give you an update on our newest student. She wanted to talk to Dr. Zimmerman but he wasn't in his office when I rang." Magnus set down the file in her hand and pulled the phone away from her shoulder, but still pressing it firmly to the side of her head. "She's doing well, much better than was expected from her experience in the foster system. She seems to be able to control her pyrokinetic abilities well, although there have been a few hiccups: only one small fire in the bathroom after she was upset by another student."

"Well, I'm glad she's doing well, I'll be sure to let Dr. Zimmerman know and to have him call Lily as soon as he gets a chance. We've been rather busy lately, but I'm sure he would love to speak with her." After conversing budgets for a short time more, Magnus hung up the phone with a click and smiled to herself. She would have to bump up that small "meeting" with Ryan to tomorrow afternoon.


	4. The Apartment

6

Her knuckles rapped on the door loudly in the empty hallway, but she was a bit miffed so she didn't mind or care. The complex Will had described when dropping the young woman off was certainly not the same one she was in now. Either Will had messed up or Ryan had lied and Magnus was betting it was the latter. Will might be dense in some occasions and in some situations, but this certainly wasn't one of those.

There was no answer, so Magnus increased the pressure of her hand on the door when her knuckles hit making it louder than necessary. The door finally opened the third time Magnus raised her hand and brought it down. Granted, it was early, just after seven, but she had a busy schedule and much preferred to have this conversation in private than in a public arena, and in person, for that matter.

The woman who opened the door looked disheveled and very much still asleep. Her face was barely lifting into the hall light and the room behind her was completely black. Magnus was firm when she spoke. "We need to talk. Now." When the woman tried to push the door closed Magnus pressed a manicured and well dressed foot into the doorjamb. "This talk is not optional."

"Like hell it is." Ryan growled and tried to slam the door shut only to have it forced open by Magnus until she could easily walk into the room.

"Are you going to invite me in?"

"No!" Ryan stood just on the other side of the door and crossed her arms over her chest, hopeful that a flat-out refusal would make the woman leave.

"Very well then," Magnus stalked inside and flipped on a light switch as she went. Ryan was not going to give in if she could and remained standing in place and as stoic as she could, at least she hoped her face looked stoic. Helen reached down and twisted a switch so a lamp on an end table lit up the remainder of the room.

It was a studio apartment and sparsely furnished. There was only a couch, a chair with the backing falling off, a coffee table that was littered, and the least amount of kitchen supplies as possible to function. Magnus stood awkwardly in the center of the room, turning to stare at the other woman. "First, let me check your leg. Is it still hurting?" She had changed her tone from demanding to soft and worrisome.

Ryan stared Magnus down for a good five minutes before she shut the door and limped over to the couch which was currently her bed. Sitting down she raised her running shorts clad leg up and began to take off the air cast without speaking. She looked up at Magnus just as the woman leaned over to poke and prod at the healing injury.

"Pain level?"

"Minimal."

"Good, seems like you're a fast healer, you probably only need a few more days in this."

"You have no idea…"

"Of?"

"Um…how good it sounds to not need _that_ thing." Ryan pointed to it with an ugly look screwing up her features. Magnus sat on top of the papers and files that were scattered over the second hand coffee table.

"Now, Caroline Gray, why did you lie to me?"

The woman didn't answer because her stomach was plummeting a few floors; instead she ground her molars together tightly. Magnus really didn't beat around the bush did she? Then again, she was basically a CEO of her own company, perhaps she just didn't have time to play games. "I didn't think it would matter." She sheepishly answered. "I didn't think I would see you again."

"So why lie in the first place?"

"I don't know," if Caroline could have stood without limping and paced without pain she would have. Yet, Magnus' firm hand on her knee and fear of the limp and pain kept her still and _semi_-calm. "I wanted to try out a new life."

"A new life? Is that why you were extreme base jumping?" The way she said the last three words depicted her apparent amusement and disproval of said hobby.

Caroline shrugged, her eyes riveted to the woman's hand on her knee. It was so warm. She could do this. "I thought it would be fun and exciting. I didn't fall into the tree…I jumped into it." Her eyes flicked up to Magnus' face before falling back to the woman's fingers.

"Ah, semantics then," Magnus smiled at the woman understanding completely where she was coming from. "So how did you enjoy Ryan Kelly?"

That made Caroline smirk, "Oh, I liked some parts of her: her adventurous streak, her bravery, and her inability to be anonymous. Though I don't think I'll visit her again."

"That's good, I believe I prefer Caroline: the upstanding citizen who works for little as a city social worker and volunteers Sunday afternoons at a local retirement home and Saturday's in the summer at the New City low income housing development."

Caroline wrinkled her nose before her eyes connected with Magnus', "You make me sound like a saint, of which, I can assure you, I am not."

"We'll see. Now," Magnus patted the knee softly, "About my school. Just how did you come to hear of it?"

Caroline blew out a decent amount of air before responding. "I met a Father from the Fifth Ward at that retirement home you were speaking of. I've known him for many years, used to watch him in mass every Sunday. Anyway," she waved a hand dismissing the subject and continuing, "He told me about it one day when I was confiding in him about a particularly difficult placement I was having. He'd come down and met the young boy and said he might do well in this special school that he knew of. Being in the foster system never allows for private schools, but Father Jensen said he found a sponsor.

"I've only seen the child twice since, on mandatory and regular visits I'm afraid, but he is doing very well." Caroline made sure her eyes were locked with Magnus', blue slate on baby blue. "Thank you, for providing such a safe and secure place for him."

Magnus smiled. She most certainly remembered that boy, he was an empath. "I believe I also sponsored young Erik. I get regular updates on his progress. Would you like to see him again? I'm sure it can be arranged and he has spoken very fondly of you."

"I'd love that; he was such a sweet kid, just needed a bit more structure and consistency than any foster system could give him." The woman smiled and her eyes creased at the sides. Magnus stopped. Those eyes, there was something about them that held her gaze, something unnerving and familiar.

"Would you like to try something new in your life? Your life as Caroline Gray, that is." Magnus didn't know why she was asking the young woman this, but for some reason it seemed important. "Invent yourself in a new situation perhaps? Start anew?"

Caroline gave her a funny look, "What are you talking about?"

"My work," Magnus raised her hand and bobbed it up and down in front of her body. "It's very private, but Father Jensen was a very close friend of mine and one of my colleagues before he died and I trust his judgment."

"Um…okay?"

"Would you like to come and see what it is I do? We may be very useful to each other in the future."

"Sure…when?" Her voice was still hesitant.

Magnus rose and dusted off her hands before Caroline moved to follow. The elder went to the door, but turned just before she left, "Tomorrow. I know you have the day off, and I have some extra time." Well, she would make some extra time. "I'll give you a proper tour of the facilities."

Caroline nodded as her only response, her hip resting on the arm of the couch and she slid her eyes over the other woman's body. Magnus, of course, noticed her eye movements and how her gaze lingered.

"My car will pick you up in the morning."

"Sounds good." Caroline licked her lips as Magnus turned the door handle, "Uh…Doctor Magnus..."

"Yes?" She turned her head back to find the woman strolling across the tiny room. When Magnus thought she would stop, she didn't. Instead, Caroline propelled her body forward until her lips collided with Magnus'. She rolled her tongue over the brunette's mouth until Magnus permitted her entry and hummed softly. Caroline wrapped a hand around the other woman's waist and brought her ever so much closer. Magnus obliged, her head dipping down to taste the short woman, her fingers fisting in the white cotton t-shirt.

Caroline pulled away slowly and kept pecking Magnus' lips until she was far enough away. "Thank you again, Doctor Magnus, for helping me and Erik." She pulled her lower lip between her teeth and bit down nervously.

Magnus only nodded and kissed the woman's cheek softly, "Till tomorrow then." With that she left, finding her way back to her car.

Magnus' heels clicked along the sidewalk until she sat carefully in the black sedan. "What the bloody hell was that?" She swiped a thumb and forefinger above and below her lips, pinching them together and thus removing any stray lip gloss. Glancing in the rearview mirror she could see the flush retreating from her cheeks, "Well that was unexpected to say the least."

Caroline immediately called her supervisor and the retirement community to inform them of the _family emergency_ she had and that she wouldn't be back for a week. If all worked out as planned, she would only be gone that long, but she would make the necessary connections in that amount of time.

Magnus was still in the car when her phone buzzed quietly beside her. Picking it up, she answered, "William?"

"Uh, hey. There's a family here that wants to see you and only you: something about Vladic and a Hollow Earth abnormal."

"A family?"

"Yeah, a mom and two kids. Biggie took the boys to the media room, but the mom is panicked. I've calmed her down a bit, but she is refusing to speak anymore unless it's with you."

"Alright, I'm on my way, please let her know." She sighed; Will would need to learn how to work through these requests for her soon, she really couldn't be everywhere at once and if something happened he would need to be able to take over.

Twenty minutes later Magnus was tucked into her study with a blubbering woman and an on edge Will. She was pressing a mug of tea into the woman's hand and speaking only in soft tones, "So you're from Hollow Earth?"

The woman lifted a damp tissue to her eyes clearing the red tears away. "Yes, my husband died in the explosion of Praxis. I found myself in a very cold place and was brought here to work for Vldaic. That was four months ago, by your time."

"What did you do for Vladic?" When the woman's cheeks reddened, Magnus amended her statement, "Never mind, I can send you someplace where you will be safe from him. Vladic and I have an understanding; once you come under my care he will not touch or harm you."

The woman's eyes raised, they were a pale, pale yellow that inadvertently had Magnus on the edge of her seat. "You promise? I've heard rumors about you and your father, but I never imagined them to be true."

"I promise. Now, let's set you up with rooms for the night and I'll make arrangements for you to be placed somewhere safe. I'm going to be sending you to one of my off shoot Sanctuary's in Istanbul, Turkey. I know you don't know where that is, but Henry can show you some pictures if you would like. They are better equipped to handle you needs than I am here. It's just too dangerous in this house for children."

The woman nodded, again wiping her eyes. "Thank you, Doctor Magnus. You are such a blessing to me and my family."

Magnus glanced at her watch, noting she would have to leave soon for a conference call with Feliz. He had been worried about something, and she was interested to find out what exactly it was. Will had caught the maneuver and began to take over. "Let me show you to where you'll be staying."

Magnus smiled to the woman as she rose and followed Will out of the study. She could hear his voice trailing off as he moved further away, "They have lots of children at the Turkish Sanctuary, your sons will love it there…"

Taking the advantage, Magnus pulled out her cell and called Feliz. He was supposed to be grounded for a few days because his plane needed repairs. "Oh my, Helen, you won't believe this." She could practically see the man bouncing on the toes of his feet in front of her.

"Richard, what can I do for you?"

"Well I just had a question about one of your accounts…" the man continued and Magnus paid close attention.

Henry was sitting in his lab when he realized it was getting close to dinner time. He had been playing around with the video feed from the front gates, trying to make out what Ryan had been saying into the phone. Unfortunately, she'd been too far from the cameras and his lip reading skills were not exactly his best asset.

Rubbing his tired eyes he stood and brushed off his legs, moving out of the room. He was walking down the hallway when he heard the voices arguing with each other. He turned into the room to see the Big Guy seated in a corner with glasses on and a Nicholas Sparks novel in hand. Turning his keen eyes to the side he saw the two boys shouting at each other, trying to figure the correct way to play the game on the screen. Glancing away form the fighting siblings, Henry noted that it was a classic: Mario Cart.

Biggie glanced up and shrugged, "Worse than you and Ashley."

"So you ignore them?"

Biggie's eyes moved back down to the page in front of him, finding his place once again, "Worked with you two."

Henry glared, but decided to let it go. There had been a few years in there when it was fairly bad between him and Ash. He couldn't blame the guy. Instead, he decided to take a different approach. "Hey, calm down." He grabbed the two controllers from the boys. "If you play nice, I will show you how to play the game." Both boys nodded, their eyes riveted to the floor until Henry passed the controllers back. He squirmed at the pale lightness; it was almost as if there was only an iris. Shaking his head to clear the chill that raged up and down his spine, he grabbed for a third remote. "Ok," he sat between the two of them and began to explain the basic rules and controls.

After going through everything, Henry decided for a trial run through of one of the races. The kids didn't do half bad. Starting a new round, he realized just how fast they were at picking the "how-to" of the game and were even adding in strategy. Impressive. It wasn't long before they were beating him. Standing, in some irrational hope that it would make Bowser's little car go faster, Henry began to chant and shout at the tv screen. The two boys easily followed his lead.

Her voice was very angry by the time he heard his radio crackling at him. Tossing the remote down he picked up the radio and pressed it to his lips, praying a cheery disposition would dissuade further yelling. "Yeah, Doc. I'm here, what's up?"

"The eggs are hatching, I need your help immediately."

"Yeah, no prob." He looked sorrowfully and longingly at the boys and the game. "Duty calls." When he left he realized the Big Guy was nowhere in sight. Dismissing the notion thinking he'd just gone to fix dinner, Henry grabbed his ever-present tablet and left to go to the habitat his presence had been _requested_ to.

He was walking fast enough to placate her in his tardiness when answering the radio. "Hey Doc, what do ya need?"

He set his tablet down and watched through the glass as she moved from a new hatchling to the next. "Apparently my old friend is allergic to the spray these creatures secrete. Will is with him now in the infirmary. I need you to catalogue what I say, alright?"

"Got it," he picked up the clipboard he found which had obviously been left behind by the Big Guy as there was mothman spew all over it. "Gross." He scrunched his nose.

Her voice was impatient, "Henry."

"Yeah, ready whenever you are." She began to rattle off large words and lots of numbers. He tried to keep up, but couldn't help but think that Will might have been better suited to this, although he really didn't want to have to deal with the needles either. This was the better choice; the much better choice.

It was two hours later when she finally emerged and asked him to leave the notes on her desk. She was headed for a shower; being covered in mothman spew was not conducive to eating dinner. Henry happily obliged, his stomach had been growling for hours. He checked on the Big Guy first and saw that he was recovering decently. He then made his way to the kitchen. With no Biggie, that meant take-out. He rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

He picked up the phone and ordered the usual slew and massive amounts of food from a local Asian restaurant. Magnus would not be pleased, but she might eat it, depending on how tired she was. He charged it to the business card he had and made for Magnus' study. He dropped the notes unceremoniously on her desk and checked her computers for any glitches. Might as well do it while he was there, she rarely let him otherwise. He started two or three scans and set them to run remotely.

Magnus made her way down to the infirmary to check on Will's handiwork. She was dressed, clean and hair dried as always when she glided into the room. Will looked up at her suddenly. "Henry has something for you. He said something about a hack on your personal computer."

"What?" She saw her old friend was doing well enough and turned on her heel leaving the room at a rapid pace.


	5. The Library

**A/N: ok I am so so so sorry that it took me so long to get back to this. It has been a crazy month and my muse must have disowned me or something on this one. My New Years resolution (Happy New Year btw) is to NOT do this to you again. I should be back to once every week or every other week again now that life is a lot less hectic. Again I profusely apologize for this. ~Arones**

* * *

><p>There was indeed a hack on her personal computer. Not only had it stolen all information and passcodes like a Trojan, it had then crashed the thing to the point where Henry wasn't sure it could be repaired without completely taking all pieces apart and putting them back together. Henry was sitting in front of three monitors that she used to control just about everything in her life when she entered at a swift pace. "How bad is it?"<p>

"They got everything, Doc." He groaned, "I'm so sorry. I should have set up a better firewall protection."

She ran a hand over his shoulder calming him. "That's alright: all files should be backed up on the cloud."

"Yeah, but it has your passcode to the cloud and might have infected the files there. I'll have to clean them before we can access them at all…and do it from a secured terminal…and since this is some type of virus I've _never_ seen before probably from a completely non-networked computer." He turned suddenly to face her, "We should contact the other Sanctuaries. They can't get on the cloud either…damn it how are we going to function?"

"Relax, Henry, there was a time when I ran this network without the aid of the cloud, or the internet or a computer for that matter. I'm sure we can handle it for a few days."

He took a deep breath and visibly let his muscles release the tension, "Well I might be able to get the files cleaned and the cloud working again in a few days. Your computer however, that's another problem entirely. That one could take me weeks."

"Right, well you better get to it then." She took a deep breath, "I won't need a computer for the rest of the afternoon, but could you have a portable set up for me before dinner?"

"Yeah, I could do that."

"New firewall system?"

Henry blushed, "Yeah, that too."

"Try and trace where the hack came from and, please, try and get any of the files that survived back."

"No prob., the backup virus I placed in all our systems seems to have worked and the stolen material corrupted."

"That's excellent, I'm glad to know it worked. Well done Henry." She patted his shoulder one last time and made her way out of the room.

* * *

><p>Magnus had been exiled from her office for at least the afternoon while Henry worked and had informed her staff that she could most likely be found in the library. Will received the page and the voice was cheery on the other end of the microphone when Will pressed the talk button. The face was all but dashing, completely opposite from the last time he'd seen her at the precinct, and subsequently experienced her wrath. She had dimples, he noticed, double dimples that were adorable and kissable.<p>

"Gate's open," he voiced and thus allowing her inside. He tried to raise Magnus on the radio but was unable to reach her so he made for the heavy oak doors. He pushed open the door to find her smirking at him. "Caroline." His voice was dry, yet loaded with distrust.

"William."

"Will," he corrected, debating whether or not to give her an explanation. Deciding to lighten the mood to try and get more information out of her he continued, "Only mom called me that." His smile was goofy and had the desired effect.

"Myrna calls you William." She was still standing outside the door awkwardly clutching her purse in two hands and resting most of her weight on one foot and hip.

"Myrna is from Alabama. She does not do or understand nicknames, rather she finds them disrespectful and without purpose." He looked her over; one hand still on the handle, the other on the oak door next to him that made up the entryway. "Have you been checking up on me?"

"I have." She didn't apologize and stared him down, mimicking his look. At his raised brow she went on. "Well I wanted to be completely sure about that school, before I sent Lily there."

"Ah." He looked her over one last time before granting her entrance into the spacious foyer. "Here for the complimentary tour then?"

"I suppose." They were at a stand-still. She was anxiously looking around the room trying to absorb any bit of information she could manage, the curiosity bubbling and coursing through her.

"Here." He held out his hand for her purse and waited until she handed it to him. He moved to the bench and coat hanger slipping the strap over one of the hooks before moving back to her. "Let's go find Magnus. I'm pretty sure she'll want to talk with you before the tour." He shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels before stepping forward and around her to the stairs. Caroline followed dutifully.

* * *

><p>They were just passing the main library when Will heard the soft piano solo echoing from the speakers. He pointed in that direction and set off with the woman now by his side.<p>

"Magnus," he stated upon entry. Her face was buried in a yellow notepad and books were surrounding her strewn about in a haphazard manner, open to various pages with sticky notes pasted in all directions with tiny script scrawled across them.

"William?" She didn't bother to look up and Caroline smirked at him. He really wanted to toss a snide comment back at Magnus, but knew it would be unprofessional and most unappreciated by his boss.

"Caroline's here." That caused her to pause; her hands stilled and her head lifted slowly before she glanced at the watch she had removed and set aside. She most definitely had forgotten about the young woman's arrival being so soon.

"Right, is lunch almost ready?"

"Yeah, but the Big Guy said it was just going to be simple today."

"That's alright." She stood and brushed her skirt. "Hungry?" She turned to the woman then.

"Starved."

"Good." Then to Will, she asked. "Have my friend put out an extra setting would you?"

He nodded and left, but not before throwing another look in Caroline's direction. After he left, Magnus didn't wait long before moving to the sofa by the fireplace that was most commonly used at night. "Would you like some water at all?" Caroline shook her head. "Then please," Magnus lifted a hand out in front of her, "Have a seat."

Caroline sat; her back not resting against the couch and her denim clad legs pressed firmly together. She was tense. So different from when she'd been with Will, but then again, he was normal, at least to her knowledge. Magnus took note of the stiffness in the other woman's body.

"I suppose I should start with what it is we do here." Magnus leaned back and watched the other woman nod. "We are privately based research facility, but we don't work on any type of research you have heard of. We work with strange creatures," She paused a moment, "Mostly mythological ones."

"Ah." If Caroline hadn't already been exposed to this information she might have thought the woman mad. But she had done her research and she was fairly certain she knew what she was getting into, and what went on within these walls. "And you run this facility?"

"Yes, with the help of my staff of course."

"Ok," she was playing along and took a deep breath. "So what kind of creatures? Like monsters?"

"We prefer to call them abnormals. We house many creatures from completely separate and new species to rare offshoots of normal species. A lot of the ones at this facility are dangerous; however, many are not and are allowed to roam free." There was a break in her speech while she watched the other's reactions. Deciding a real pause would be welcome she continued, "Shall we make our way to the others for lunch? They should be about ready." Caroline nodded and they began to move out of the room. Magnus was gliding in her heels and Caroline clumsily walked beside her. "My butler for instance is what is commonly referred to as a Sasquatch. He has been here, at the Sanctuary that is, since the early fifties. His race lives generations longer than ours. He is also a very decent cook."

After they entered the lift the door shut behind them and Magnus pressed the down button. "This is a very old building." The young woman commented looking through the grates to the floors they were passing.

"Yes it is. It was built before the First World War, but has since been renovated, many times over." Again the young woman's eyes were darting from place to place, as she tried to take every detail in. Every floor they passed and every hallway or door that she could see, she made sure to remember. "Caroline," Magnus rested her hand on the woman's upper arm, "is everything alright?"

"Yeah, it's just a lot to take in." The door to the lift opened and Magnus smirked.

They entered the small dining hall to see most of her staff already seated at a large table with plates full. It was sandwich day and there was a great variety of meats, cheeses, vegetables and the likes spread out on a smaller table against the wall. There were also three large vats filled with steaming soups and soda cans pressed into a tub of crushed ice.

Magnus leaned over to the shorter woman's ear, "He likes to believe it's all about the presentation, especially when we have a guest." She led the way to the table and began to make her own meal before sitting comfortably next to Will and leaving either the chair across from her or the one down the table on the other side of Kate open. As predicted, Caroline sat across from Magnus and remained fairly quiet; unless she was asked a direct question, or course. Her eyes rarely lifted to make contact with any of the others and the food on her plate dwindled slowly. The conversation filtered over her and she listened intently, not missing the intense looks that Magnus was giving her. Once the meal had dwindled down and conversation was dying people began to leave for work.

Magnus waited while Caroline downed the rest of her pop before they left to begin the tour. The woman seemed to perk up quite a bit after the meal and Magnus was smiling as the lift took them down to the main lab. They moved from one habitat to the other and Caroline was most fascinated. She didn't even jump back when the snorkel flung out at her. Magnus took her hand carefully and brought the warm flesh to Sally's window. "Just wait," she whispered when the mermaid swam up and mimicked them with both hands, one connecting to where Caroline's was and the other to Magnus'.

There was sudden warmth that filled the young woman's body; it was as if someone had lit a fire under her feet and she began to heat up from her toes. It was pleasant while images of water and sounds of laughing moved through her. Helen turned and grinned at the mermaid nodding her head slightly in affirmation when Caroline saw a little girl no older than two dressed in a pink jumper running through the lab dragging a very used teddy bear behind her by its arm. The child turned around and looked directly at her and smiled brilliantly before turning to make in her direction with an infectious grin on her face. Caroline found herself smiling at Magnus when her vision and the image cleared. "That was—that was amazing." She looked back to the mermaid and whispered, "Thank you." The abnormal nodded and swam away rapidly.

Helen turned and they shared a very intimate look, "That was my daughter." Her eyes hardened for an instant before softening and the look was not lost on the other woman. "That was the first time she met Sally after she'd been moved here. Ashley was always interested in the creatures that lived here; I could never quite stop her curiosity." Magnus began to walk away and out of the lab before Caroline could ask any other questions. "Sally agreed to come live here so that I could learn from her. However, her people all but massacred themselves a few years ago because of an under-sea parasite that invaded their brains. She decided to remain here permanently after that."

Caroline's eyes were not tracking Magnus' movements any longer. Instead they were looking through the habitats that they passed by, her fingers tracing the outline of her chapstick through the pocket of her jeans. "How many species live here?"

"There are about twenty different kinds of species, but over a hundred residents. That's mostly because of the Nubbins though." Magnus paused and pointed to their habitat and they made their way over to it.

"Nubbins?"

"Yeah, furry little creatures who breed like rabbits."

She paused a moment, "Interesting."

"Indeed." They moved away and down a long hallway to another lift that looked very similar to the other one. Even though the woman had been paying close attention to where they were she was sure she would get lost in this building. They had somehow managed to make it back to the library. "You do understand that you can't share this with anyone."

"Of course, but why are you telling me?"

"We can discuss that later, for the moment you'll have to excuse me. I need to discuss something with Will before he leaves." Magnus had led the woman into the room and came to stand beside her. "Make yourself at home; there's water over by that door and if you need anything else there's the intercom." She pointed to the contraption next to the door, "You just have to press here and my old friend will be able to hear you."

"The Big Guy, right?"

"Yes, he'll get you anything you need." Magnus looked the woman over one last time, "I won't be gone long." She waited for a nod in agreement before she moved to leave the room.

"Doctor Magnus?" The woman turned and came back to Caroline who was nervously moving from one foot to the other.

"Yes?"

Caroline didn't wait any longer and walked right up to the woman pressing her lips softly against Magnus', her toes extended so she could reach. Magnus pulled back with a smile this time, "I think I quite enjoy it when you do that."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Magnus lowered her head again and brushed her lips over the younger woman's. She pressed them to each corner of her mouth before sliding her tongue across seductively. Caroline mewled softly in the back of her throat and slid her fingers into the dark brown locks reveling in the silky waves. Their tongues entwined quickly this time and Magnus dipped her back slightly until her breasts were pressed tightly against her own chest. Caroline was the one to pull back this time, her chest heaving for breath and her eyes wide with realization. "I just can't seem to figure out why you keep kissing me." It was an unstated question and Caroline knew she could either answer it or lean in for another embrace.

She chose the latter. Her tongue immediately slipped beyond the barrier of Magnus' mouth and her hands pulled the taller woman to her, holding on tightly while their lips moved. Magnus didn't have a second to take a breath and thus took a moment to herself before reacting and dragging the warm body closer to her.

Magnus reluctantly pulled away slowly, pecking soft lips for what seemed like minutes. A short kiss and then a longer one, then short again: she really didn't want to leave but she needed to leave. "I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"I have to go talk to Will."

"But you'll be back right?"

Helen smirked at that, "Absolutely." She leaned down one last time before taking her leave. She made her way slowly down the hall trying desperately to wipe the smile off her face before she knocked on her young protégé's office door. Unfortunately, she didn't succeed. The door was open and she walked in, the smile still lingering on her lips and most charmingly in her twinkling eyes.

"What? Have you been into the catnip or something?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You, Magnus, are glowing." She tried to shake her head no, but it turned into more of a circle of undecided movements. "You're smitten."

"I am not."

"Yes, yes you are."

"Will." He took the hint: her lowered timbre and tilted chin told him to stop chiding her.

"Alright," he lifted his hands in surrender. "What is it you needed?"

"Hmmm, I need you to go to Turkey."

"You're kidding right? There isn't someone else who can take them?"

"I'm sorry, no. Everyone else already has missions or is busy and I need safe transportation." Will heaved a rather large sigh and leaned back in his chair showing his dislike of her request. "Again I'm sorry, but the family needs to leave soon and you are the only option at this point."

"You can't go?"

"Sorry, needed here for a meeting with the FBI."

"Ok then, I guess I'm going to Turkey. When?"

"Tomorrow morning." He nodded is assent and she left moving back to the library.

* * *

><p>Caroline wandered around the room looking at the different selections of books. It seemed that the entire room was organized via the library of congress method and she was glad to find entire sections that looked of interest to her. Skimming a finger over the spines she read titles of about three books on Vampires and their origins. Moving down a shelf she found some on werewolves. Two shelves over there were histories of ancient cities that she barely remembered the names of from her high school required historic classes.<p>

She walked the entire library fiddling with the chapstick in her pocket before she heard the footsteps down the hallway. That woman would never be able to enter a room in those heels without being noticed. She moved to the tray with the glasses and pitcher of water and poured herself one. She sipped the glass of water once before turning to see the gorgeous woman gliding over to her.

Helen immediately curved her hand around the woman's cheek and pressed her lips to hers. Caroline responded to the pressure in kind until her head began to spin and her stomach dropped. She pulled back when the bile worked itself into her throat. She pulled back and clapped a hand over her mouth looking wildly around. Magnus saw the signs and knew them well. She pulled the girl over to the only waste container in the room and pulled back her hair as her entire lunch erupted into the can.

Magnus rubbed soft circles over her back, it was twenty minutes before Caroline was able to look up again. Her cheeks contained no color in them and a grayish undercurrent that worried the doctor needlessly. Caroline took a few deep breaths before her head tilted back against Magnus' shoulder and she was unconscious. She lifted the small and light woman into her arms and carried her over to the couch brushing fingers over her forehead. "Well, Caroline, it seems you'll be staying with us for a while."


	6. The Infirmary

Magnus was sitting on the edge of the bed with an unconscious Caroline tucked under the covers pressing the back of her hand to the woman's forehead. Her temperature was elevated but not by much. There was a soft and gentle knock on the door that alerted her to Will, who was leaning against the jamb.

She smiled and made her way towards him. "I think it's just the flu, she has no other symptoms. You'll have to leave this evening, though."

"Why are you pushing it up?"

"The Litteyians have low immune systems, and are not used to top side earth diseases. I don't want them becoming ill."

"Oh, I can make the arrangements then."

"Thank you, Will, but I can just as easily do it." Her hand rested on his arm for a moment. She glanced back into the room and saw the sleeping form. Deciding the woman would undoubtedly be unconscious for a while longer; Magnus hooked her arm through his and began towards her study. "Would you mind terribly stopping in London on your way back? Declan could use some help with a capture and he can't spare anyone from there to go with him."

"London? Yeah, sure, no problem. You're not just sending me there to get some more tea are you?"

"Why William, whatever would ever make you think that?" The twinkle in her eye made him think she really was only sending him for that reason.

* * *

><p>About an hour later they met up with the family who had little in the way of belongings and only carried one tiny suitcase. Magnus hadn't met the two boys yet and as she stood with the mother, clasping the frightened woman's hands in hers. She understood the fear the woman was going through, the one of possibly losing a child. She had, after all, lost her daughter. Blue eyes locked on the pale yellow and the women shared a look. There were no words spoken and Magnus lifted the woman's hands to her lips quickly before moving to the boys. For each child she pressed a gently kiss on their foreheads. At Will's questioning gaze Magnus shrugged and kissed his cheek whispering in his ear, "Customs. You are not required to participate."<p>

The five walked to the foyer, Helen's arm wrapped in the hold of the mother's and they were speaking amicably in Russian. The boys looked a bit lost and worried, but Will pulled a second duffle up to their eyes and flashed them a Wii that he had stuffed in there. The kids eyes grew wide and they opened their mouths to speak, but Will shushed them, "It's a secret." Both boys grabbed for the duffle and dragged themselves into the waiting car. Magnus said one last good bye to the frightened woman before turning to Will and running a hand down his arm.

"Be on alert until take off, that's most likely when something will happen." The three members of the family had clambered into the back of the car and the youngest boy was pressing his face against the glass blinking his eyes rapidly.

Will glanced at him cautiously before looking at Magnus. "Do you think Vladic will try anything?"

"Doubtful, even with the state of the network I do not believe he would risk losing us as a connection."

"You're sure?"

She glanced back at the car quickly and then pressed her lips to Will's cheek. "Be safe," she issued the words and made for the front door while Will made to the car. She heard the metal snap shut just as she reached out to close the oak snuggly behind her. The wave blast hit her first and knocked her to the ground, her knees scraping against the tile as she slid toward the stairs. The sound was next and felt like a great pressure squeezing her head together forcing her to not breathe. Magnus lifted up with her palm pressed against the floor, her body aching. She realized that there were tiny pieces of shrapnel embedded along her exposed hip and thigh. They were just tiny pieces.

Looking over she saw a tiny body about four steps away from her. Slowly making her way, Magnus found the youngest son, Garthaw. That was his name. She reached a hand forward and felt a steady pulse. He must have been thrown from the blast and into the building. She ran her hands over his body finding a few broken bones but nothing bleeding. She turned sharply when she heard the moan.

Standing immediately, Magnus made her way through the door and to what was left of the car. There was the abundant and pervasive smell of burnt flesh and it pushed against Magnus' forward movements. "Will!" She called out, her breath rushing forth and she lost her balance grabbing hold of the wall to steady her body. She had at least three broken ribs that was for sure. When she scanned her eyes to where the car was it looked like a massacre. There were black and silver pieces everywhere strewn about the entry gardens and driveway, smoke was rising from some of burning material and left over gas.

Walking to where the car was she began a search. "Will!" Her voice was worried, she couldn't help it. There was nothing she could do to get the timbre steady. He wasn't supposed to be in this situation, this wasn't supposed to happen. "Will! Can you hear me!" She heard the grumble and the slide of a piece of metal against asphalt coming from her right. Turning in that direction she saw his dirtied jeans not moving and his chest barely rising. "Will!" She moved to him as quick as possible and kneeled against his side. She tapped his face lightly and his lids flickered open for a moment but then shut again.

Running careful and sure fingers over his body she found a large piece of metal protruding from his side, and his leg was bent at an awkward and unnatural angle. He must have been thrown as well. Will was never one to put his seatbelt on first; it probably saved his life this time. She heard the other shouts coming from behind her and Henry running up. "Henry, take Garthaw to the infirmary and have my friend come help me, we need to get Will into surgery."

Henry nodded and moved away after brushing fingers over her shoulder. He went to where he'd left Biggie and told him to get a board and neck brace. They were going to move Will first. The boy could wait; he wasn't critical. Biggie and Magnus raised the unconscious body of Will and moved carefully through the blasted front door to the Sanctuary. Reaching the elevator quick she set the backboard onto the waiting infirmary bed that would roll and loosed a silent breath of relief from the tension in her arms. "I need a CT of this before I do anything with it." They unstrapped him and slid the board out from under his body after moving into the OR.

She pressed two fingers against his wrist. His pulse jumped and his eyes opened. "Ma—Magnus?"

"Hey there." She slid a hand up to his cheek. "You're alright, just a bit of a bump."

"What happened?"

She looked over then at the monitor that was finally giving her a reading. Her old friend had placed the sensors over already bruising skin. "There was an explosion. We'll talk about it later." She set an IV quickly in his right arm and gave him something to make him sleep. She cut away his clothes with sterile scissors and let her friend check on their other patient. She had Will stripped quickly and found many smaller cuts. Some would need to be stitched closed, but most would heal on their own. After removing all material away from the large piece of metal she investigated it. It was a clean cut at least, and he hadn't moved which was to his advantage. The results of the scan would tell her more, but after feeling around and looking at the size and placement, she was sure if it had done any damage it his organs it would only be minor.

Fingers pressed to his cheek again and she gazed down at him, "Oh William, how do you keep getting yourself in these situations?" She covered the lower half of his body with a warm blanket and left the room to change into scrubs and to check on her other patient.

The boy was faring well. He had awoken and was being tended to by Kate. He was already sitting up with an arm in a sling waiting for her to set the bones. Magnus rested a hand on the child's leg and smiled at him asking if anything else hurt. He shook his head, but she imagined it was just because of the pain medication rolling through his system. She brushed fingers over his head and smiled sweetly, "I'll be back to check in on you in a bit, and to set your arm, alright?"

The child nodded against the propped pillows and watched as the woman silently beckoned Kate to the door. The stood just outside and whispered. "Anyone else?"

Kate shook her head and looked at the ground. "They were lucky with just those wounds."

"Have you told him?" Magnus looked in at the boy.

"No, I thought you might want to."

She nodded. "Yeah, since Will is out of the question, I think I might wait until Caroline feels better and have her assist." Magnus paused, before turning back to the Indian standing in front of her. "Would you mind staying with him until then? I think he would enjoy the company."

"Yeah no problem Doc." Kate watched the woman leave and called back. "Make sure to get yourself checked over soon too."

"Absolutely Kate, thank you." Magnus moved down the hallway and back into the now sterile room with her friend already inside setting up the equipment she would need. She took a deep breath before opening the door and sliding in ready to save the man once again.

* * *

><p>Caroline woke slowly, her hair was clinging to her sweaty chest and her body was freezing cold. She shivered and turned on her side keeping her eyes closed and feeling her stomach. "Maybe that lunch hadn't been a good idea." The words tumbled from her lips as she grimaced when another wave of nausea rolled over her, tingling through her body. She clenched her eyes tightly and took deep steadying breaths.<p>

Moving her knees up closer to her chest she felt a quiet tremble of the bed. Chalking it up to a small earth quake she turned her face into the pillow and breathed in the clean scent. It took her probably another ten minutes before she felt that she could stand. Slowly bringing her legs to under her body she lifted up and grasped the massive amounts of blankets that had been covering her body. She stumbled into the bathroom and dry heaved into the toilet. "Oh this is a bit much, really." She muttered wiping the back of her hand over her mouth and leaning against the cool bathtub.

She pulled the white tube of chapstick from her pocket and flicked it in a circle staring at it. She would need to get to her purse soon. She took a deep breath and stood. She was feeling considerably better. Looking into the mirror over the sink she noted that her face was still pale and her skin clammy. She did not look considerably better. Leaning over she flushed the toilet and washed her hands before throwing water as cold as it could get on her face. She took a shuddering breath and did it again and again.

Finally looking at her reflection she watched the rivers slide down her face and into the porcelain sink and onto the blue countertops. Taking a soft hand towel she dried her face and made to the bedroom. Her purse was settled on the night stand and was left unopened. Well, prayers for small things, she guessed before opening the zipper and pulling out an eight ounce water bottle.

A few minutes passed before she felt up to walking down the hall to look for her caregivers. They definitely deserved her thanks. She was halfway down the hall, using the wall for a bit of support when she realized that she had no shoes on. Someone had taken them off and she was padding barefoot through a gothic style building and had no idea where she was going. Sighing heavily she continued on, really not wanting to exert any more energy than necessary.

She made it to the lift that she remembered would take her up and down. Once she stood in it and the doors closed, Caroline realized that it wasn't going to take her as far down as she wanted. However, it would take her to the level of Magnus' office. She would go there, someone was sure to be there. She pressed the button and sat against the wall just under the panel until the lift halted at her designated floor of choice. Slowly standing and using the rail to lift her weak body, Caroline shuffled her bare feet out and into the hallway. 'Now,' she thought glancing from side to side, 'left or right?'

Taking a deep breath she made to the right and down the corridor. Eventually it turned into a longer corridor with the same style of decorating. Dark walls and really expensive paintings, with small tables here and there with statues or art placed delicately in order. She made it to the doorway at the end of the hall and saw it open. "Ah, good, I guessed right." She breathed deeply and entered expecting to find Magnus sitting at her desk and Will in a chair opposite or somewhere around the room. They had only passed by the room on her tour, but Magnus said that she'd been exiled by Henry who was fiddling with computers. "Damn it." She said loudly upon her realization and as a wave of nausea rampaged around her stomach in a stampeding fashion.

Grasping the door jamb she leaned into it trying to slow her breathing and heart rate. If she wasn't careful she would puke again and she really didn't want that. She made it to the window sill which was the closest thing she could see to sit on. Curling her legs under her body she laid on her side facing the city that was getting rained upon.

* * *

><p>Helen walked into her office after spending hours with Will and Garthaw, but mostly Will. The child was doing well and had started asking about his brother and mother. She hadn't been able to hold off any longer and held him while he cried into her breasts. He had gotten so panicked that she gave him a sedative to help him sleep through the night and had left him in Kate's care.<p>

She grasped a book off a shelf in her office and turned around to see the woman sleeping against the dark window. Taking in a deep breath Magnus made over to the cushioned and still form and brushed fingers through the long stray locks. She sat on the edge, her legs mimicking the angle of the sleeping woman's only opposite. They fit well together. Again Magnus brushed fingers through the greasy and sweat soaked hair. She breathed slowly and lifted a hand to feel the flush and then down to a wrist to take her pulse.

Rubbing a hand down the sleeping woman's back Magnus made to wake her. "Caroline, darling, you have to wake up." There was a mumble and the woman's face nuzzled further into the pillow tucked under her head. "Caroline, come on." Magnus moved her hand a little harder, increasing the pressure. "We've got to get you back to your room."

Caroline finally nodded and turned her head to see the blue eyes looking back at her. Her brows knit together when she saw the cuts and the bruise high on Helen's cheekbone. "What happened?" She reached out a hand and brushed her knuckles over the marred skin.

"Nothing out of the ordinary. I'll need your help in the morning if you're feeling up to it."

"Helen, has anyone looked you over?" Caroline was moving to sit up and her stomach roiled in protest, but at least this time she didn't feel like she was going to vomit.

Magnus looked into the woman's eyes and she couldn't lie. For some very odd and strange reason, she couldn't lie. "No, but they're all superficial. The cuts just need to be cleaned and maybe dressed. Nothing can be done about the ribs."

Caroline instantly looked worried. "Helen, you need to be looked over."

"Really, I'm fine. Everyone else is busy."

"Then let me do it."

Magnus stopped and considered the younger woman; there were wounds she most likely would not be able to reach. "Alright then, come along." They dragged themselves to their feet and made for Helen's bedroom not stopping along the way and taking the stairs at the end of another corridor. After as much sleep as she got, Caroline was feeling particular better and steadier on her feet.

Helen pushed the door open slowly and made into the bathroom off to the side while calling over her shoulder, "Just sit on the bed, I need to get supplies." Caroline nodded silently and watched as Magnus came back into the room carrying a small first aid kit. She opened it and pulled out the necessary supplies explained what to do and starting to pull the white scrub shirt over her head. She stopped halfway and winced.

Caroline picked up on the movement immediately. "Here, let me." She replaced Helen's hands with hers and tugged the material over and then repeated the process with the gray undershirt. "Jesus," she breathed at the sight of Helen's skin. "Really, what happened?"

There was hum before she spoke. "There was a bit of an explosion. I'm surprised you slept through it actually." Caroline raised a medicinal soaked cotton ball and pressed it into the first cut she could find. Helen hissed from the pain, but relaxed against the cool feeling that had started to take over.

It took an hour and a mostly naked Helen before Caroline felt satisfied that she had found every cut. Caroline ran her hands down the bare arms and grasped Helen's fingers. "You should rest."

"So should you." Helen mimicked back, pulling on Caroline's hand until they were both at the top of the bed. She lifted the quilt at the bottom of the bed with a toe and the younger woman took the hint. Reaching down she dragged it to cover their bodies and Helen curled around Caroline closing her eyes and sighing deeply.

**A/N: To make up for leaving you so dry and high for so long! lol and also to tell you that I probably won't be posting on this again until Jan 18th...or somewhere around there. You might get another chapter out of me before then but probably not (I'll be in class pretty much 24/7 for an entire week). Enjoy this and please tell me if you like Caroline? I really need to know if you do, she's my first OFC...thanks! ~~Arones**


	7. The Window Seat

**A/N: Again sorry for the delay and I will say this. The more you bother me with it the sooner I will write it. I hereby give you full permission (if you like this story that is) to bother me as much as you see fit until I write the next chapter. I'm having serious issues with this story and inspiration behind it. So I will take any and all encouragement in that manner. Now...for the chapter. Please enjoy. ~~Arones**

* * *

><p>Helen woke to the sound of retching coming from her bathroom. She was clad only in her underwear with an over blanket pulled halfway down her body. She couldn't see much more than that because her curtains had been shut and only a sliver of the moon light was coming through. Groaning slightly at the ache in her muscles she stretched and turned toward the bathroom where she once again heard the vomiting. She should get up.<p>

Tiredly rising to her feet, Helen pulled her robe from the chair by her vanity and threw it over her shoulders tying the waist tightly. Rapping her knuckles on the wood she waited for a response but didn't get one. She slowly pushed the door open, listening to the creak and squeak of the grinding metal joints. She'd have to fix that. Her eyes rested on the woman kneeling over the porcelain throne with a heaving body. 'Poor thing,' Helen thought before resting a hand on Caroline's back.

"Nausea come back?"

The girl just nodded. Helen reached a hand around and checked for a fever and found clammy and sweaty skin. She stood and reached for a wash cloth and wetted it before rolling and placing the cotton on the back of the blonde's neck. "Thank you." It was whispered just before she leaned forward and dry heaved again. Helen rested a hand on her back and rubbed circles into the hot, feverish skin.

"Are you usually sick this long?"

Caroline couldn't respond with words and shook her head as an answer. She felt like crap, like if she vomited one more time it would be her entire stomach that came out and her throat would bleed. It was minutes before she even dared to raise her head. When she did, there was a body right behind her and she leaned against it, burying her face in the woman's neck and curls. "Make it stop," she whined.

"I would if I could, but you just have to let it run its course, at least for now."

She nodded silently and breathed deeply the lasting perfume of the antiseptic she had used on Helen earlier in the day making an appearance. They waited for what seemed like an hour before Caroline took a deep breath and Helen realized she was falling asleep.

"Perhaps you feel up to the bed." Again the answer from the woman was a quiet nod, but she didn't attempt to move. Helen had to start the process of standing before Caroline would even follow suit. She laid Caroline down and tucked her in, making sure she was fully asleep before changing into fresh and proper clothes and leaving the room.

* * *

><p>Magnus checked in on both of her patients. The boy was still under sedation and Kate hadn't left his side. Will was doing as well as could be expected. It would be a very long recovery for him. She stroked a hand down his cheek and checked all his vitals over. She stayed with him for an hour or so to give her old friend much needed rest before he came back. She left them to check on Henry's progress. She was not pleased with the answers he gave.<p>

"It was Vladic."

She chewed on her lip before nodding, "I suspected as much. Have the mission teams cleared out the front of the building yet?"

"Yeah they're almost done and I've started on replacing the security systems already."

A hand was pressed to his shoulder, "Good. I need to go make a phone call."

"Uh…Doc?" She stopped and turned to him again. "Don't do anything rash ok? Vladic's…he's not like the other people we deal with."

Her head dipped down quickly before she brushed out of the room. This threat on her people was not something she was going to take lightly, especially from him. They had been acquainted for many years and had no issues up until now. She made her way to her office, preparing herself to make a phone call. She moved to the window deciding on her phrasing when she noticed the white chapstick tube lying on the cushions. She picked it up, smiling, knowing exactly who it belonged to. When she turned to bring it to her desk, thinking that she would return it later, she heard the liquid swish from side to side in it.

Helen did a double take and lifted the plastic to be level with her eyes. She studied it for a moment before twisting and opening the top. The cap came off with a soft pop and some of the liquid spilled over onto Magnus' hand. She leaned in to smell at it. There was a very subtle lemon scent that wafted into her nostrils. She pulled back immediately and started moving towards her labs. She wanted to be sure before she confronted the woman. On her way down to the labs, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Vladic's number.

He answered on the second ring. "I've been waiting for your call." She really wished his Russian accent wasn't fake. It would have made it far easier to dislike him if he wasn't born in America.

"I'm sure. Care to explain why you decided to blow up my staff and half my Sanctuary?"

"Really, Helen; you were holding my lovely шлюха captive. I had to release her."

"Yes, release her into death. What happened to our agreement?"

He paused a moment and she could hear the sizzle from a cigar that was being smoked and the glug from his throat as he drank something, which was no doubt alcoholic in manner. "You vetoed that agreement when you kept my шлюха against her will. That line was never to be crossed." She could see his round face puckered in anger and his beady black eyes narrowed at nothing. He was probably sweating rivulets of perspiration that rolled down his chubby cheeks and into the collar of his shirt. She'd never appreciated looking at him, but tolerated it under certain circumstances.

"If you come near my Sanctuary, or my people again. You will regret it. I will cut off your balls and ship them home to you мать as a reminder of what a man you were. You even so much as make contact through a contact with any of my people and you will have me to deal with. Understand?"

"Did the poor man die yet? I heard the explosion was spectacular to witness, bright lights and body parts flying all across your front lawn."

Magnus ground her back teeth together. "He is not dead. Nor is the family, all were safely removed from the vehicle before your precious bomb was set off."

"You lie, Helen. I thought you would be above lying." He took another drag on the cigar. "I have access to your files. I can see the child on your camera's and the poor man convulsing in seizure as we speak." Helen turned suddenly then, walking out of her lab after only just arrive and turning down the hallway towards Henry. "I see the files on the dead bodies, or what was left of them, stored away in your morgue. You think I don't know. How very naïve of you."

"And how exactly did you ascertain access to my systems?" She said it while in the lab with Henry so he would know what was going on. He nodded, keeping silent just as she had instructed with a finger over her lips. Immediately he pulled up the network systems on to his monitor and began to shuffle through the coding to find the hack. She didn't wait to make sure he was doing his work. Instead she strode to the infirmary and the private room where Will was. He had been talking at her the entire time and, frankly, Helen was getting rather tired of listening to the man babble. One thing about mob-bosses was that they liked to talk a lot. They didn't think they could get in trouble for anything. "Vladic." She interrupted him. "You touch any of my people again and I will kill you. Take that threat to heart and don't come near me or my Sanctuary again." She pulled the phone away from her face and hung up on the man before sliding into the private room and seeing her protégé still seizing.

Immediately she moved to the medicine cabinet and pulled out a vial and syringe. She injected him with a paralytic and watched his form slowly halt its jerky movements. She pressed a hand to his chest and looked over at her old friend who was watching her carefully. "Vladic has been dealt with. I'll be in the labs concerning another matter. Call immediately if anything changes with him."

He nodded and grunted. She took another moment, looking over the unconscious man that had a very special place in her heart before walking out the clear glass door and back to labs. It didn't take long for her to discover what exactly was in the chapstick tube. And it certainly wasn't melted chapstick. Since she was on a roll with confrontations already that morning she decided she needed to wake the young woman up and have a nice little chat with her.

Making her way back up to her room she opened the door to hear more vomiting. Sighing heavily, Magnus moved into the bathroom to see the woman leaning over the toilet once again. Her mouth was open with a stream of spittle dripping down over her lips and chin connected to the water that was quickly vacating the porcelain after she reached up and pulled the silver lever. Caroline blindly reached for the washcloth that Magnus had left on the counter top the night before. The young woman was still blind to her audience and wiped her face before shutting the lid and leaning her head against the cool surface. Her face felt like it was on fire.

Helen brushed her fingers over the sweaty skin and brushed Caroline's bangs behind her ear. "How much did you take?" Her words were soft and quiet. She had come up for an explanation, for a confrontation and no doubt an argument but she was not expecting the young woman to still be ill.

Caroline's response was lethargic and crackly as her throat was on fire. She didn't want to speak more than necessary. "Nothing."

"Don't lie to me. I don't like lying. How much did you take?"

She opened her eyes and looked into the pools of blue. She closed them immediately and tried to steady her churning stomach. There was nothing left for her to throw up and she didn't want to try and alleviate the feeling. "I haven't taken any since yesterday."

"And, pray tell, why were you taking ipecac?"

The sound she made in the back of her throat tugged at Magnus' heartstrings. She brushed fingers over the dirty hair again. "Why does anyone take ipecac?" The retort was quick and said in anger. Caroline had not been expected to be caught and she felt backed into a corner: one that involved vomit, cold tile, and hot skin. "How did you find out?"

"I found the chapstick in my office this morning."

"You weren't supposed to find that."

"I have no doubts about that. Now, why were you taking it?"

"Leave it alone." Caroline made to stand and staggered finally to her feet with a bit of help from Magnus.

"No, why were you taking it?" Magnus' voice was taking on a subtle edge of arrogance and frustration to it.

Caroline shoved her to the side and took a step before her ankle rolled and her knees gave out and she fell against Magnus' cool body. She was clinging to her like a lifeline, even though she wanted nothing more than to walk away and get out of the bloody gothic building that was confining her. "I'll be fine in a few days. Always a fast healer."

"Yeah, so you've said. But you still haven't answered my question."

"Not planning on it." She tried to move Magnus to the side and slip by her, but the older woman held on firmly and kept them both in place. Caroline was too weary to fight anymore and rested her head against Magnus' shoulder. "You need a bath. It'll hopefully help your stomach and your mental capacities." She steered the young woman back to the toilet and sat her down while she drew a bath. The water was lukewarm, not hot because of her fever and not cold because her body severely needed to be cleaned. By the time the tub was full, the woman was asleep against the vanity counter, with her head resting on her arm.

Magnus began to strip her down and she started to stir when her night pants slipped off. Magnus unclipped her radio and set it far away from the tub so that it wouldn't fall in and that she would be able to hear it if she was called. Lifting the small body under the arms she maneuvered Caroline into the water. The young woman began to shiver almost immediately and dropped her head against the ivory backing. Magnus pulled down a sponge and filled it with a moisturizing body wash; she squeezed it in her hand a few times before she started to wash the woman's body. It had been days since Caroline had bathed and it felt absolutely wonderful, even if she was basically an invalid.

She could barely move. She eventually turned her head to face the older woman who was concentrating thoroughly on the task at hand. "Thank you, Helen." She raised a wet hand up and cupped Magnus' cheek.

Helen pressed her own hand over the one on her face. "You can thank me after you tell me why you did this."

Caroline sighed heavily and let her hand drop away and back into the tub of water, inexplicable and, of course, unintentionally splashing water up at the kneeling woman who was still bathing her. She turned her face to the wall and worried her lip gently.

Magnus rinsed off the pink skin, "We can discuss it later. Scoot down; we need to wash your hair." Caroline did as was requested and dipped her head back into the warm and soapy water. The fingers massaging the shampoo and conditioner into her scalp were like magic and Caroline almost fell asleep in the water. Her stomach and stopped rolling in on itself, although she still felt that if she moved to fast it would turn on her again. The gentle movement of the liquid against her skin was soothing. The bath was over far too soon for her liking.

Magnus kept her hand firmly on Caroline's wrist as she leaned backwards to grab the radio off the counter as it was crackling at her.

"Will's awake, he's asking for you." The voice was gruff and there were a few extra grunts added throughout his speech.

"Alright, I'll be down soon. I just need to finish up here."

There was no further conversation as she set it back and started to sit up the relaxed woman. Caroline's voice was soft as she was hefted out of the water. "Is he alright?"

"Yeah, I think he'll be fine. He's been through worse. Died a few times, been revived. All that nonsense that goes on with this job."

"Ah…ok…" She was having a ridiculously hard time keeping her eyes open. Magnus had her sitting on the edge of the tub and wrapped the towel around her body before reaching over and pulling the plug and draining the water. She placed another towel around Caroline's hair and began to pat it dry while the younger woman held herself and the first towel up. "You should go tend to Will."

"He'll understand."

"Still, I'm hardly such an invalid that I can't dress or make it to my own room."

"You are not getting back in those clothes." The command was quite clear and it made Caroline pause for a moment before Magnus explained. "They are dirty, filthy, sweaty, and have vomit all over them. You are not getting back in those clothes."

Caroline smiled softly, "Yes ma'am."

Magnus smiled and lifted her up, walking with her to the bedroom, "It's not crunch time yet, its Helen, Magnus or Doc for now." Helen dressed her in some of her own silk pajamas and tucked her into the bed checking her temperature with a hand and her pulse with fingers before making the move to leave.

She was stopped by soft skin on her forearm. "You'll come back right?"

"Yeah, as soon as I can. If you need anything press this button." Magnus handed her the radio and showed her the button. "It's the second channel which you'll only get me then. I'll go grab my other one before I head down to see Will so give me a few seconds before using it, alright?" Helen brushed fingers over the side of the younger woman's face and smiled down before standing and leaving the room.

She traversed once again to the infirmary level and into Will's room. Her old friend left upon her arrival and she moved to her young friend pressing a hand to his cheek. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been through a meat plant…twice."

"Well considering all that happened. I can give you more morphine if you like."

He took a deep breath. "Not yet. The family?" He saw the sorrow on her face and her eyes close softly. She shook her head.

"The youngest is the only one who survived." His reaction nearly mimicked hers and she couldn't help herself but lean over and press gentle lips to his cheek. "There was nothing you could have done, Will. Nothing at all."

"I know." They talked for a little bit of time before his pain became too much and she forced him to take more pain killers. He was soon fast asleep and Helen was on her way to her study, to get some actual work done.


	8. The SHU

Magnus had worked through the day, taking periodic breaks to check on every one. Kate was doing well with Garthaw and the boy was coming around a bit. He was clinging to the Indian like she was his lifeline, but after such a traumatic event neither woman was worried. Will had woken up a few more times and the last one chose to stay away without the aid of extra pain killers. However, she was planning on insisting on it before the end of the night. She decided to check on Caroline once again to see if her symptoms were better. If they were not, she would have to do something about them.

The woman was still in her bed, the sheets were wrapped violently around her body. She was soundly sleeping and Magnus didn't want to wake her if it was unnecessary. She brushed her soft fingers over the younger woman's forehead and pulled aside loose strands of hair, tucking them behind her ear. Magnus waited a few moments, studying her features and remembering her pale blue eyes that could pierce her with anger. She sighed and pulled a needle from the pocket to her jacket. Brushing Caroline's arm with alcohol she inserted the needled and drew a small vial of blood. Pressing a bandage over the needle puncture she capped the instrument and slid the vial into her pocket. She'd go take a look at if after convincing Will to take more morphine.

Helen slid the vial into the refrigerator in her lab before making her way to Will. He was propped up with pillows and playing a game of solitaire on a tablet that Henry had no doubt brought him. "How's your head?"

"Not bad, can't stare at it for too long though." He set the machine down and watched as she came in to take his vitals. He patiently listened to her while she gave him instructions and did as he was told. When she was finished and had recorded her findings in the computer she pulled out a small box from a drawer he hadn't noticed before. Smiling, Magnus sat on the edge of the bed and pulled the tray over. She placed the box on top of the meal tray and began to open it. Will grinned broadly when he realized what it was. "Chess?"

"I quite enjoy a game of chess."

"How come we've never played before?"

She shrugged. "Usually had a bit more to deal with after such events. For some reason, everyone seems to be doing as they are supposed to be doing and I seem to be needed very little." She set up the tiny pieces and let him go first.

Will made the first move, choosing rather quickly which pawn he would slide across the magnetic board. "How's Caroline?" He asked after some time, decided to finally broach the subject.

"Well enough I suppose. She was taking ipecac." He stopped suddenly, freezing all his motion looking at her face. She'd said it as if it was an everyday occurrence that someone would drug themselves and continue to do so to the point of extreme illness.

Magnus' face remained impassive, as she concentrated on her next move. She slid the small bishop across the board and rested her hands in her pocket waiting for him to continue. Will looked away and back to the game at hand. "Ipecac? Why would she do that?"

"Don't know; she was a bit too ill to answer that."

"Too ill? I've never known you to back down in the face of something like that, simply for an answer that she should have to give."

"There's something about her, Will. I can't quite explain it."

He licked his lips before replying, testing the ground. "Infatuation maybe?"

Her head jerked up to meet him. Their eyes locked. "It's not only infatuation Will, if it were just that…I'd be able to handle that, there's just something about her, I can't quite place my finger on it." She made her move, "Check."

Will dipped his head back a minute resting his eyes. "I told you something was off about her. Especially after you found the false identity and I still don't get the whole, 'jumping into the tree' thing either. I just don't really like her much."

"You've barely spoken to her. She's really a very sweet girl."

"That's the infatuation speaking." He smiled cockily at her and moved a pawn to protect his king.

"Perhaps." Helen's smile had a little blush to it and it made Will's grin even bigger. She moved her final piece calling out "Check mate," before sliding off the bed. "I'm going to give you some more pain medication so you'll see well, alright? We'll see how tomorrow is and if you need more then."

"Ok, but not too much, you know how I feel about drugs."

"Yes." She slipped the needle into his IV and waited until he slept before clearing the chess game and making her way back to the labs. She pulled out the vial that she had set aside earlier and put a small drop onto a slide. She pushed it in place under the microscope and flicked the light. Pressing her face forward she began to look at the sample.

She must have been staring through the small holes for thirty minutes before she felt the cold muzzle of the gun against the side of her head. She didn't move, refused to turn around until the perpetrator spoke. "What are you doing, Helen?"

"Checking your blood."

"I can see that. Why?" The barrel of the gun was placed to Helen's temple, the tip now warm from her skin. Magnus slid back slightly and placed her hands in her lap where Caroline could very easily see them.

"To see if there was anything else making you ill." Magnus remained calm; her body not without tension, but on the outside see seemed serene and quiet.

"Put it back."

"What?" Magnus turned then to face the woman and forced the gun to be pressed to the center of her forehead.

"Put. It. Back. In. Me."

Magnus looked from the vial in the test tube back to the young blonde in front of her. "You want me to put the blood back in you."

"Yes."

"I… why?" She made no motion to move the weapon. She sat intently looking at her would-be assailant in utter curiosity.

"It's against my religion to take bodily fluids from us. They are sacred. You need to put them back." Helen nodded and began to reach into the drawer to her right. Caroline pushed the gun hard and made Helen's head tilt sideways jarringly. "What are you doing?"

"Reaching for a syringe. If you want me to put the fluids back in, I need some method to do that by."

"No pulling anything funny."

Helen raised her hands up in the air. "I promise." She pulled out a sterile needle and drew the blood from the vial into it. "I need your arm." Caroline held out her left arm, the one not holding the weapon and let Magnus inject her blood back into her. Helen capped the needle and set it aside before she looked up at Caroline who was staring at her hard. "Now what?"

There was a moment's pause when Caroline hesitated before she was going to speak but Helen reacted using the back of her left hand to shove the weapon away from her face. The gun clattered to the ground but Caroline was quick and bunched her left hand into a fist and jabbed Magnus in the cheek. The older woman's lip split and there was a delicate crunch of her jaw popping. She stood immediately not taking a second longer caught Caroline's right arm and she swung it around again and jabbed the end of a clean needle into her shoulder.

Caroline slipped her leg hard against Magnus' shins and the head of house fell hard to the floor knocking the wind violently from her chest. Caroline pulled out the needle that was still sticking in her shoulder and threw it to the ground before pulling back her leg and swinging it against Magnus' ribs. Helen felt at least three of the ribs break and she flew a good three feet backwards and against the cold metal desk. She grunted out and watched the younger woman's center of balance sway as the medication finally started to take effect. Caroline fell onto the desk her head hitting the electron microscope and pushing it to the ground where it clattered and shattered. She body slid off the edge of the desk to hit the stool Magnus had previously occupied where scraped her face across a loose screw and tore a gash along her cheekbone before he body collapsed on the ground completely lax.

Magnus rubbed her jaw gently popping the bone back into place before she pressed her hand to the ground and lifted her body up. She would need help to get Caroline down to the SHU because there was no way, in her condition, that she would even want to attempt to do it by herself. She stood using the edge of the desk for support as the pain surged through her side. "Definitely broke a few of them." She muttered to herself reaching for the intercom that had thankfully not fallen off the desk in the brawl. "Henry," her voice was breathy and she winced in pain and because of her inability to hide her emotions and physical condition.

Her fears were confirmed when Henry's worried voice came over the phone, "Yeah Doc?"

"I need some help in my lab. Bring a bed."

"I'm on my way." He hung up and Magnus kneeled down to check the young woman's pulse. With the amount of the sedative that she'd given her she would no doubt be out for hours. It was not meant for a woman of her size, but Magnus had little option at that point. Henry got there faster than she had anticipated and his mouth dropped at the sight of them.

"Help me get her on the bed." He nodded and took most of the young woman's weight as they lifted her up and onto the bed. "You'll need to restrain her and put her in the SHU."

"Seriously?"

"Yes." Magnus gritted her teeth against the onslaught of pain that pulsed through her side. Henry hesitated before she waved him onward. She needed to get checked out, make sure there was no internal bleeding. She carefully lifted the side of her shirt up to look and saw the bruise starting under the skin. "Good Lord." She slowly and carefully made her way down to the infirmary and took her own x-rays. Her old friend found her a little bit later as she was studying the breaks. He insisted on taping up her side and giving her a CT. Luckily she had no internal bleeding, but she would be sore for many days. That along with the explosion and she was sure to heal very slowly.

* * *

><p>"She attacked you?"<p>

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Wow…totally didn't see that one coming." Will was propped up precariously against the pillows with an IV still running in his arm. Magnus was once again seated on the edge of the bed, although very carefully to avoid moving and hurting herself more. "The Big Guy said there was no internal bleeding right?" His hand dropped her hers that was resting rather close to his right thigh. He squeezed her fingers reassuringly.

"Yeah, I'm fine Will." She gave him a soft smile back and returned the grip on his hand. He was always so concerned for her it was a bit touching, but only in small doses.

"When do you think I can get out of here?"

She chuckled at him. He never wanted to be in the infirmary longer than necessary. "You've got a few more days, Will. I will, however, bring you down something to do while you're here. Give you something to do other than stare at the drab, boring and dull walls." She was using his words from the last time that he'd been forced to stay in this tiny room for days on end.

"Does 'something to do' mean filing or work?"

Her grin broadened, "Would I ever do such a thing to an invalid?"

"Um…yes. Yes you would, Magnus." That made her laugh, which was quickly followed by a grimace as her sides contracted painfully. He whispered an apology and tugged at her fingers again, before rubbing his thumb gently over the top of her hand.

The monitor flashed as the security cameras changed on them in their standard rotation. Will had requested that he be allowed to watch them after he'd heard of her attack. She turned her head to hide the fact from him that the pain was more than he originally thought and her eyes caught the SHU where her assailant was being held. It was empty. "Damn it." She stood immediately, ignoring all twinges in her side and rushed to the monitor to change it back to the previous screen. Sure enough Caroline was gone. "Damn it!" The words burst from her mouth as she left the room. She locked Will inside and pulled a stunner off the wall before rushing down the hallway.

* * *

><p>Henry was working in his lab on the new security system and trying to figure out how Vladic had managed to hack his old one. It was days like this that he really wished there were no emergencies, no calling him away from his lab so that he could dedicate his time fully to creating the perfect system. But then his life just wouldn't be the same and he was always quick to take back that type of thinking. Caroline, however, was a conundrum to him. She had seemed so pleasant that her attack on the boss was totally unexpected.<p>

There was something about her that set his teeth on edge, but a lot of abnormals did that. Actually, a lot of humans did that to him. Will had been one of them. It felt weird that, she was on his turf; he should not be the one on his toes every time he was around her. Yet, when she would smile at him, or let her dimples show all that feeling of nerves would disappear. Sure he might have been a bit enamored with her, but damn was the woman hot? Who wouldn't be?

His eyes slid down to the clock in the corner of his computer screen and he realized he'd been sitting there for almost twenty minutes without so much as getting any work done. If Magnus was anywhere near a security monitor and saw him she would have some not so nice words with him. For him this was crisis mode; he was supposed to be figuring out his previous mistakes and setting up firewalls to block other attempts at a hack. After two hacks in one week, he couldn't blame her for mistrusting him a bit when it came to the security of the building. But he also knew that she knew enough about computers that if she had the time or the gumption he would so be out of a job.

The gun was cold when he felt it against his neck. He jumped slightly, but he didn't turn and he didn't move except to raise his hands up.

"Show me what you know about the five." Her voice was solid, unwavering and Henry swallowed the bile that was rising to his mouth.

"I…I don't know anything."

"Bullshit. Pull it up on the computer."

Henry leaned forward and pressed a few buttons so that the screen was filled with information about the five. She read over the biographies of Waston, Druitt and Griffen quickly. "Interesting people your boss hangs out with."

"Yeah…well, she gets around a bit."

"Where's the rest of the information?"

"Hold on." He pressed another button and brought up information on Magnus and then finally on Tesla. Caroline stared at the screen for a good while until Henry heard the zap of a stunner and heard her body drop to the ground. He twisted on the stool and looked back to see Magnus standing over the prone form watching it carefully with stunner in hand. "How'd she get out?"

"That is unknown at present." Gingerly Magnus kneeled down to check the woman's pulse once again. "Help me get her back to the SHU? I'll review the footage as soon as she's secure."

"Yeah, got it Doc, but really…how the hell did she get out?"

"I don't know, Henry. I just don't know."

**A/N: So do you still like Caroline? And are you happy I posted quicker this time? lol ~~Arones**


	9. The Labs

She was leaning comfortably over Henry's shoulder watching the feed he had pulled up from the monitor. She saw the young woman wake far sooner than she should have the grogginess almost non-existent. Caroline looked around, assessing and determining before her wrist popped up and something sharp slid through the bindings at her hands, then at her ankles. In seconds she was at the door and the feed suddenly cut out. Magnus sighed. That was after the first time she had placed Caroline into the SHU. It had not been her intention to lock up the young woman but without further investigating she had little knowledge as to her current behavior.

Magnus had placed the woman back into the SHU and had attempted to make her restraints more permanent the second time around; there was no need for a repeat of what happened with Henry. She had used a Tesla invention for that. Magnus pointed to the camera over Henry's shoulder, her finger hitting the screen just as his replay of the feed cut out again. "What was that?"

Henry shrugged pressing a rapid series of keys and making noises in the back of his throat at the answers he was getting in a strange code that had taken Magnus a short time to learn. However, with having him around she had slacked on her upkeep on technology and allowed him to take over that aspect of the Sanctuary. "Dunno, massive power surge I guess. Most of the floor went out and it took a few seconds for them to come back up. She was already gone by then, but we caught her on the other camera's coming up to the weapons lab."

Magnus leaned back on her heals and nibbled on her lip. "Well I don't think she'll be getting out anytime soon. I put her in the vampire restraints that Tesla helped with. If he can't get through them I doubt she can." Her voice trailed off, her speech no longer giving sound to her thoughts.

"Let's hope." He rubbed the back of his head and fiddled with the computer while his boss was deep in thought. It could have been seconds or it could have been minutes he never would have known, but when he spoke she was listening. "You know, there's a lot of junk on here that's clogging up the data stream. I could clean it out for you."

"Sure." She stared at him for a few minutes before walking away and back to her desk. Her mind was still reeling, when a light bulb went off in a dark corner of the recesses of her brain. "I'll be down in the labs, Henry, if you need anything."

"Got it Doc, I should be good."

* * *

><p>She moved into the lab that was still in shambles from the attack on her before. She knelt down to the cold cement floor and began to clean up, focusing on the broken microscope. There were shards of glass strewn about and she collected them and the metal pieces that were once her microscope. There wasn't much blood left for her to work with. After cleaning the lab and being as careful as possibly to save the broken slide with Caroline's dried blood on the glass she rehydrated it and began to run a DNA sequence.<p>

Again Magnus was chewing on her lower lip, she had been doing that a lot lately and the skin was rubbed raw and was starting to hurt, but that didn't deter her. After a bit she pulled up the chemical analysis and read over the results. "Well that's certainly interesting." Drawing a conclusion without waiting for the sequencing to be complete, which would take many more hours, Magnus strode to speak with Will. He was losing a battle with sleep, but as soon as she walked in he perked up quite a bit. "I want you to look at something."

She sidled on over to him, her hip brushing the mattress and her hand sliding over the backs of his fingers softly before reaching his wrist taking his pulse instinctively and compulsively. "Um…ok." He took the proffered paper from her other hand and slid reading glasses onto his face. Contacts were too much to put in while he was down here. His brow furrowed and his eyes narrowed. "Is this saying what I think its saying?" His eyes snapped to her concerned features.

"I don't see any other conclusions that could be drawn from it. Though it's not pure. See these," she pointed to three spikes on the graph, "they should be higher if they were pure."

"So not whole."

"No, I'd say rather a quarter, maybe even half although they are on the low side even for that."

"Did you log these? I'm just thinking that some people might find it interesting and with the hacks into the system perhaps we shouldn't log the results yet."

She took in a slow breath before speaking, her eyes still on the paper. "Not yet, she asked me not to take the blood. I'd rather not tell her I kept any, but I can see now why she didn't want me to."

"How do you think she got it?"

"I honestly have no idea, but I intend on finding out."

Will paused for a moment, his eyes still riveted to the sheet in front of him. He was going to have to ask and he was going to have to tell her his view. "You're going to talk to her aren't you?"

"Yeah, I want her side of this. Whatever this is."

"Don't do it alone."

"I hardly think she's going to attack me while tied to a gurney in the shu. Beside, I'm sure Henry will be watching on the camera's and really Will, she's hardly a threat."

"Hardly a…Magnus, please don't talk to her alone. She already attacked you and Henry, there's no telling what she could do next."

She didn't answer and he knew that she wasn't going to listen to him any further. He had tried. "I think I might wait for the DNA sequence to be partially done before I go and speak with her. That way I'll have more information on her abilities."

"Good idea."

"Thank you, Will." She watched as he took his glasses off and rested his head back on the pillows sighing and closing his eyes. She cupped his cheek and kissed the other one softly. "I'll leave you to it then." Magnus walked out without looking back, the paper in her hand and her brain swirling with anticipated conclusions of the tests she was running.

* * *

><p>Helen Magnus was watching one Caroline Gray from the window in the wall to her room in the shu. She had promised Will that she would wait, but her curiosity had gotten the better of her. Magnus moved to the door and punched in the three digit code before pushing her way into the enclosure. Caroline looked over and her eyes locked with Helen's. The silence was permeating the room, seeping into every corner, every nook and cranny that it could find. Caroline's chest was constricting and her breathing was becoming difficult.<p>

She watched as Helen moved in closer, hovering over her immobilized body. "Shall you begin or shall I?" Her tone was venomous and if Caroline had anywhere to retreat she would have. The young woman swallowed the lump in her throat and wished her eyes would move from Helen's deep blue orbs.

"It was not my intention anyone be harmed."

"No one was except yourself." Helen watched her eyes and cheeks as pent up energy was released from her body. "What was your intention?" Caroline twisted her wrists in the restraints that kept them at her sides. The material rubbed raw and left red scratches on her skin. "You'll hurt yourself if you keep doing that." Helen grabbed the woman's hand to stop her restlessness. She was surprised at the softness and heat of the flesh under her fingertips. Gently her thumb began to run circles over the outside bone on Caroline's wrist, the young woman's heart rate speeding up unbeknownst to Helen. "Why did you not inform me of your abilities?"

Caroline's eyes dragged down to her hand that was clasped and back up to Helen's lips. "I didn't know that I had to."

Helen's eyebrow rose in a peculiar manner. Caroline's eyes saw a blonde woman in her stead, hair backlit allowing streams of light to blind, like an old movie being played back after sitting for years in the dust. The woman's eye brow was arched high and tension set in her face. She shook her head and the image of Magnus floated back before her eyes. "You didn't have to tell me. However, it would have been helpful concerning your _illness_." Magnus leaned forward and cupped Caroline's cheek when her head fell to the side. "Caroline?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" There were tears streaming down the curve of her face and onto the soft pillow below. Caroline's breathing became short rasps, her chest heaving with each gasp she tried to draw air into her lungs. She shook her head side to side, her throat closing in.

"Caroline, I need you to take deep breaths." Helen moved suddenly and the girl flinched, her body pulling as far to the opposite side of the bed as possible; her eyes were clenched tightly and her chest was no longer moving with air. Magnus slowed her movements and her tonality became tender and quiet. "Caroline, darling. It's alright, nothing to fear." She reached out a hand to run the backs of her fingers of the salt streaks down the girls face.

The blonde woman had been back, her hand ready to strike but now she was none other than Helen. The woman Caroline was helplessly attracted to and the largest reason she was here. Caroline nodded and Helen slid her hands down the restraints undoing them and freeing the young woman's wrists. She was sobbing again, uncontrollably so.

"You need to sit up," Helen pulled her shoulders up so that Caroline was leaning forward. A hand ran circles over her back soothing the shaking woman. When minutes passed and there was no slow in her tears, Helen reached down and unhooked the woman's ankles hoping that her rash decision would not be to her disadvantage. There was something about this young woman that compelled her. It was her eyes that did it mostly.

Helen sat on the edge of the bed, pressed Caroline's face into her shoulder and resumed the circle motions on her back. "Shhh, you need to calm down." She kissed the side of the woman's head. "Nothing is going to happen to you." Tediously and reticently, Caroline began to draw in deep breaths, her body no longer shaking and her head still buried in Magnus' shoulder. Helen pulled her head back gently, her fingers running through her hair, strands becoming untangled .

The urge was too strong for her to resist. Caroline's nose was read, her cheeks slick with salty droplets and her lips full and enticing. Helen leaned forward, their mouths connecting. Her lips pinched together on the younger woman's, pulling back before pressing onward again. She did this many times before dipping her tongue out to taste the salt stained lips. Caroline's lungs expanded with air rapidly, her mouth parting. Magnus' hands wiped the girl's face clean of any lingering tears, her mouth coaxing a steady rhythm of breaths and heart beats. Incrementally and quietly Helen pulled back and away. "Better?" She finished her sentence with a loving embrace.

Caroline bit her lip and nodded, her eyes not wandering up to Magnus' face. Her cheeks burned red with embarrassment. "Now tell me," Helen's fingers were still running through the girl's hair, "What has brought all of this about?"

Lips were licked while she avoiding looking at the woman who was still holding her. "I know not who my mother was, only that she died during my birth. I did not know what I was until well into puberty and even then…"

"Do you know how you came about your abilities?"

"I assume my mother. My aunt, who I resided with until I was fifteen, had no understanding of what I was. There was money sent to me each month from an anonymous account that was untraceable and even after I left my aunts it continued to get to me."

Helen nodded and adjusted her position on the bed allowing for Caroline to sit cross-legged and writhe her hands together in her lap. "And your father?" A shrug was the answer that Helen received. "This explains your rapid healing when your leg broke, how you escaped your first confinement, but not as to why you are here."

"I am here to learn more about myself."

Helen chuckled, "You could have asked."

"And who wants a vampire roaming their halls. Certainly you don't," she gestured to the walls and the room she was in.

"This was not because of what you are, but because of what you did. You can't go around attacking my staff and expect no consequences." Helen brushed fingers over the soft skin at her cheek.

Caroline nodded, "I must apologize to Henry for my actions."

"Later. How is it you came to hear of the Sanctuary?"

"I heard things on the street, researched and learned as much of it as I could." Caroline fiddled with her thumbs, debating whether or not to reveal what had started her on this journey. Determining that she was already as deep in as she could go without fully telling everything, Caroline decided to give as much information and remain as close to the truth as possible. She pulled up her pant leg and slid off the hospital sock on her right foot. Pulling her leg into her lap she pointed to the tiny tattoo in the center of the arch of her foot. "This was given to me just after my birth," Caroline looked up at Helen. They eyes were locked and neither woman could look away. Helen took a finger, finally, trailing it over the black letters, her heart pounding in her chest. "My aunt had no idea where I'd gotten it; in fact she was convinced it was a mole."

"A mole it is not." Helen's finger was still rubbing against soft skin, her mind reeling with this new information. "Did you find its meaning?"

"No I did not." Caroline was watching the woman's face intently.

Helen hummed to herself before patting Caroline's leg and turning to face her once again. "What year were you born?"

"I hardly think that's relevant."

"What year…were you born?"

"1943."

"Ah…" There was a pause while she processed the information. "And your birth name?"

The young woman stopped, her heart stuck in her throat and her breathing becoming rapid again. She had not spoken the name in decades and had never planned on revealing it to anyone. But the soft tones of Helen caused her pause in her previous thinking. What would happen if she did reveal her name? Would it be so terrible to be called it once again? She licked her lips, the moisture catching on the dry skin, her nose still stopped and smooth breaths impossible. "Emma, my name is Emma."

"Emma." The word rolled off Magnus' tongue and into the young woman's ear and she sighed. Yes, that had been a good choice. Her name once again revealed to her. "Such a beautiful name, why change it?"

"To survive. I would not have lived this long without my identities."

"Yes that is understandable." Helen kissed her cheek softly. "Would you permit me to call you this?"

"Yes." Their mouths connected again, Helen's tongue slipping against Emma's moistened lips. Helen's fingers tangled in the hair at the base of Emma's neck, her hand pulling until the white column of throat was revealed. Helen kissed a line down to the base of her neck and then back up to capture lips once again. Her tongue pressed between smooth lips until it swirled around the recess of Emma's mouth, touching every place anew.

Once again, Helen slowly and incrementally moved away. "You will not lie to me again?" Emma shook her head in agreement. "You will apologize to Henry and those actions will be stopped?" Emma nodded. "You will ask if you desire information?" A nod, the young woman's eyes straying to their hands that ended up entwined.

"I will be more amenable."

"Will will want to speak with you before you are fully released."

"I understand."

"Be kind with him, he is still recovering."

"Yes."

"Emma?"

The mention of her name made the young woman smile, her lips upturning quietly and her eyes crinkling in the corners.

"Is everything alright?"

"I think it will be." She bit her lip to keep from smiling until suddenly she lost color. "God, Helen. I'm so sorry I did that. I shouldn't have. I just…I've never told anyone and not…I just…"

"It's ok, no harm was done, except to you I'm afraid."

"That's hardly true," Emma's thumb glided over the split in the woman's lip. "Your side."

"Nothing that won't be mended."

"Helen," Emma started and ran fingers up Magnus' side until she saw the small cringe. "I broke them."

"Yeah, three. But it's nothing that won't heal with time."

"Helen…"

"Think not of it, it will heal." She kissed the girl's lips quickly. "Come, speak with Will. We'll work through this." She grabbed the hand of the young woman and moved to stand carefully and pull the young woman towards the door leaving the shu behind.


End file.
